Self-Care in the New Year
by Amanda Smith, LCSW
I don’t know about you, but I have a serious love-hate relationship with the whole “New Year’s Resolution” thing. Every year it’s the same thing- I set out to x and perfect every single aspect of my life, and within 30 seconds of the stroke of midnight, I’ve already screwed something up. We don’t even get a chance to wake up to a new year- we get the ironic privilege of being able to blow our resolution by 12:01 AM. One last piece of cake for the night and, oh well, there goes my diet.
There have been a few years that I have tried to combat this annoyingly reoccurring issue. I’ve let the pendulum swing the other way, becoming a staunch “anti-resolutionist”. There’s no way I can mess up on a goal that I never had. Strong logic, I must say. Let’s go into the new year anticipating failure; that’s the spirit! Ugh, I’m a sucker for some all or none thinking.
I sense that I’m not alone in this tumultuous life journey of dissecting our New Year’s Resolutions. Lately, I’ve met more people who are ditching resolutions than those who are inspired to embrace a new journey. Is anyone out there actually doing this thing, or is it just a dying concept that we’re all left to shame ourselves for not being strong enough to tackle?
The truth is, I’m not sure I’m ready to give up the idea of a New Year’s Resolution. We all have goals, and there is a lot of power in a fresh start. There’s nothing wrong with striving for self-improvement. It makes sense to Report: Self-Care in the New Year Report was generated on Tuesday, Jan 19, 2021, 11:46 AM Page 4 of 4 want to better ourselves in a time of natural transitions. We just need to nd a way to stop self-sabotaging and look at it a little differently.
What if we decided to be intentional in our New Year’s Resolutions? What if we used this time to dig deep and examine how we can each take better care of ourselves? There are no rules to the resolution game. We don’t have to do some specfic challenge because everyone else is doing it. We don’t have to put new year’s resolutions in a box.
What if your New Year’s Resolution is just to take better care of yourself? There are a bazillion ways to take good care of ourselves; we take care of ourselves every day. If you brush your teeth, you are practicing self-care. It doesn’t have to be so dang complex and complicated. What if, instead of devising some superhuman unattainable goal, we simply strived to lean into the intention of embracing self-care as a lifestyle?
If you have been interested in taking better care of you in a sustainable and consistent way, join me for a 2021 Self-Care Intentions in the New Year group. We will start on Wednesday, February 3rd and meet together from 12 – 1 pm, virtually for 6 weeks. Support, accountability, and community can help you in this new year!!
