‘New year new me’- a phrase that will, without a doubt, be crossing the minds of many of us over the strange period of time between Christmas and New Year’s. The year is on its last legs, however, it is not dead and gone just yet, so you allow yourself to continue to plough through anything edible remaining in your kitchen, whilst at the same time this self-gifted hall pass for overindulgence that is the reason behind your trouser button to popping open every time you sit down is making you wish the year would just hurry up and end so you can be guilt-tripped by your own mind into working on the ‘new you!’.
What is it about the first of January that makes us think who we were for the past 365 days, and the 365 days before that (and the 365 days before that…you get the point) isn’t worthy of entering the next 365 days the new year lays out in front of you. I may be stating the obvious here, but you have been you for the entirety of your existence on this earth and no amount of new year intermittent fasting or a drastic hair colour change is going to change that. Work on the you that already exists rather than making drastic changes.
Begin with exercise. We know what you’re thinking… ‘Hypocrites! Here they are preaching about an inner transformation and tell us the first step is to lose a stone.’
Well, you think wrong. Yes, it is common knowledge that if you add a bit of exercise into your life, sooner or later you will more than likely lose a few pounds. But this isn’t why we’re recommending it. We aren’t telling you to go on a mad ‘eat a cube of cheese, a boiled egg and a grapefruit a day’ diet whilst sticking to a regimented exercise routine a marine would struggle to do every day. All we are saying is adding a bit of exercise into your life relieves stress, and in turn, you will be you but ‘zen’ (all the Geminis out there, you’re welcome). Download Auro, the genius app that allows you to train with an audio personal trainer wherever and whenever you want. It’s the ‘friends with benefits’ of fitness; all the motivation, no strings attached.
Invest in a real-life book. Mindlessly scrolling through social media during your lunch break or before bed is something we are all guilty of. Give your poor thumbs a rest from the endless swiping scrolling and put them to use holding a book. Instead of staring at your screen like an Instagram obsessed zombie, engrossed in the lives of the ‘insta-famous’, start obsessing over your own life with a good self-help book like Good Vibes, Good Life by Vex King- it’s life-changing.
Change the little things in your life that have the tendency to irritate you. Invest in some anti-ladder tights and scrap that enraging trill of your phone alarm that boils your blood every morning and treat yourself to a gentler wake up that won’t infuriate you every day of the week with a sunlight alarm, even the name soothes the soul.
These ideas might seem simple and straight forward, but Instead of completely transforming yourself on the outside into the unrealistic new ‘2020 you’ you’ve been conjuring up in your head since the start of December, why not become the best possible version of yourself starting from the inside, go on give it a go!
Words by Ella Winfield
Graphics by Katie Janes
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