New Year, New Perspective

The holidays have come and gone, the stress of getting your family and loved ones the “perfect gift” is over. The family gatherings, ugly sweater parties, gingerbread house contests, and ornament exchanges have come to an end.

Finally, we can breathe.

Wait, why do I still feel this tightness in my chest? I should be relaxed; the new year is here and it’s time to start my life changing resolutions that are bound to make me a better mom, wife, friend, and overall person in general… Right? I’m going to eat better, cut out soda, work
out 6 days a week, try yoga, eat kale, learn to make a souffle.

Somehow, I am now more stressed than I was in November when Black Friday was emptying my wallet, my son was learning how to turn a candy cane into a possible shank, and the lists were constantly changing of what everyone wanted from Santa. How in the world is this possible? Well friends, lets take a little peek inside our festive anxiety brains and take a moment to reflect.

I give myself these goals that aren’t actually things that will make me a better person, and honestly, they aren’t even things that I want to do. Will it help me be healthier? Yeah. Happier? I don’t really think so. I don’t believe that is what I have been doing these types of resolutions for, year after year.
I think it’s because I feel like if I make myself more “instagramable” or live a life that makes my social media gleam with the charade that I have it all together. The more likes I get, the more strangers who follow along with my life, maybe, just maybe, my brain will trick itself into thinking this is the happiness I’ve been looking for.

That checking these things off my list will make me somehow add value to the lives of people, I don’t actually know.

Spoiler alert: I will never give up pizza, or tacos, and quite honestly, I hate the taste of Kale. Diet Coke is most likely part of my blood type, and I don’t actually know what a souffle even tastes like. (Although, trying goat yoga is definitely on my list of things to do).

Instead, this year, I will try and yell less, practice mindfulness, smile more, laugh harder, adventure the valley I’ve lived in most of my life, eat GREAT food, and take more time for self-care.

While meditating in my room probably won’t make it to Instagram’s most liked pictures. I can guarantee it will help me feel better, and I might just turn into a version of me, I like. Plus, practicing that mindfulness can very easily snowball down and allow me to overall accomplish
the other resolutions on my list.

The only thing we have to do, is keep moving forward, keep pushing ourselves to get up another day and do out best. The sun still rises in the East and sets in the West, and just as that rings true, so does the fact that you are here. While each thing you do, might not be exciting.

Sometimes you just need to take a moment to slow down, breathe, and focus on what value you’re adding to YOUR life. Not the life of other people who see only a posed photo or small 15 second fragment of your day.

Go into this new decade with love and respect for yourself and the rest will fall into place. Even when life feels tough, like the pressure is too much. Sing your favorite song, dance in the bathroom with a hairbrush like Lizzie McGuire. Remember you are much more than just a wife, a small person’s snack slave, a professional bum wiper, you are still YOU.

Becoming stronger for yourself, is the most valuable resolution you could ever make.