Landing Gently into The New Year
While I'm a big fan of taking moments to pause, moments to reconnect with what matters and to build things into our precious lives that help us live them more in line with our values and aspirations, I'm not a fan of the whole "New Year, New You".
For me it implies that we are deficient as we are and that a brighter better version of ourselves is the only one that is acceptable (along with of course a million messages about what we can do and buy in order to become that better version).
Instead I love these words from the author Matt Haig (shared on his instagram)
You don't need a new you.
You are not an iPhone.
You don't need replacing every year.
Don't throw yourself away every year like trash.
Find the old you.
Improve.
Evolve.
Do better.
But head towards yourself, not away.
Be gentle with your mind.
This feels more helpful to me. Yes, we can work on improving but we don't need replacing. We can learn to move closer towards ourselves (and to what lights us up and what matters to us) rather than feeling we need to battle with, berate or banish parts of ourselves. And most importantly we need to learn to be gentle with ourselves along the way.
Some of us may have had time to rest and reflect over the festive season. I find that on years when I'm lucky enough to have this (and this year was one) there is space and energy to reconnect with what matters to me, and some energy in the tank to act on it.
But perhaps this year you've been working as hard as ever over the last two weeks or been busy with the demands of family or other commitments and you're staring the new year still trying to catch your breath. Or perhaps you are in the midst of a difficult time in life and constant cries of Happy New Year land on a heart that already knows that the year ahead will be tough.
It can be worth remembering that change doesn't need to be restricted to one day or month of the year and that often, for change to be sustainable it's found in small, consistent steps rather than in seismic shifts.
So you might ask yourself:
How could I land gently into this new year?
What small changes would reconnect me to parts of myself that I love or miss?
What support or cushioning do I need on the journey?
How can I be kind to myself along the way?