Fresh Start

This year to give myself a fresh start, I tried something I have never tried before. Usually, I don’t make resolutions because I believe that if you want to make a change that should start right away. You don’t need to wait for a new year, someday, next Monday, or for something to happen that forces you to make a change.

This year I decided I would make resolutions but instead of trying to just fix the physical part of the goal, I would search deeply to fix the emotional part of the goal. We know that out inner world creates our outer world, yet the changes we always try to make are physical instead of emotional.

For example, like many people my goal is to eat healthier and exercise more. Also like most people I have made these goals before and I have failed shortly after. Why is that?

The very first reason I have discovered is that I made this goal based mostly on how I look. Motivation can be fleeting, so the reason for making this resolution needs to be deeper than that. Wanting to look better is just another way of telling myself that I’m currently not good enough. If that’s the foundation that we set up our resolutions on, no wonder we always fail shortly after.

This gave me a few places to start. I had to reframe the reason I wanted to change. Not to look better but to feel better. I want to be flexible again so I can do gymnastics with my daughters. I want to eat healthier so I can have more energy. I want to run faster in case there is a zombie apocalypse. Would a zombie apocalypse even surprise you at this point?

Now that the reason behind my resolution had more meaning, I needed to love and forgive myself. I actually thanked my body for everything it does for me. I thanked it for being healthy and for bringing two perfect babies into the world. I thanked it for growing when it needed to. I thanked it for allowing me to play with my daughters, to pick them up, and chase them around. It allows me to go sledding, skating, swimming, and dancing. I thanked it for all of that. I reminded myself that I am worth it, and that I deserve strength, love, and flexibility.

Then I searched for activities that I would actually enjoy doing. I might not get the results that I want as fast, but I know I will be able to maintain the change in the long run. Most of all I will be exercising for joy, and not because of shame. Dancing is a huge part of this because it’s something I can do and include my daughters. I want to be a good role model for them as well, and I want them to grow up loving movement.

Next, I focused on eating healthier. I made it less about counting calories and more about learning new ways to create meals that fueled me, and that I enjoyed eating. This was actually one of the hardest parts because without planning ahead, when you’re hungry its easy to just grab whatever will satisfy you in the moment. I started following people on Instagram who promote body positivity and are recovering from eating disorders. These people have done so much work to create a positive relationship with food, and they share amazing tips for you to do so as well.

I have never put this much thought into a resolution before, but I believe that this will drastically and positively influence my success. It’s still very early in the year but I think I’m on to something. I’m not just giving up when I miss a day because my resolution is no longer just eat healthy and exercise more, it’s so much bigger and more important than that.

This is just one example of how I am creating a better life for myself this year. You can apply this process to all of your resolutions, change the emotions and you can fix the physical, once and for all.