New Year....New Me?

What's wrong with me? Why do I need to be new? Is my model outdated? Am I no longer relevant? Am I not enough?

This is where my internal dialogue goes when I see this phrase, which has been making it's way ALL over marketing since the beginning of December, and I know, I am not alone with this feeling of not being enough. There is so much emphasis this time of year to want to improve, to be even better, to toss 2017 in the trash, to completely transform, with the push of a button. You see it all over fitness sites, most likely on your notoriously pessimistic friend's Facebook page, who honestly is ready to toss out every year, on your Instagram feed, hell, it's making it's way on my train, WTF?! But why, why is it, that we expect, or even need, to be different at the start of the new year? Talk about a lot of pressure. That shit takes time.

And anyway, what is wrong with me the way I am?

Don't get me wrong, I am ALL about personal transformation. Especially if you feel stuck in the same cycles, bad habits, when your life is no longer serving your greatest version of you. But why is it that we must wait till the ball drops to make that commitment? Odds are, it won't stick. We see it all the time in the Yoga world. Droves of people, who have said for an entire year that 2018 will be the year they 'get fit' or 'try Yoga'. They show up every day for the first two weeks of January and then they slowly start to fall off the wagon (same with those rigid cleansers too). Why? Most likely, because they weren't set up for success.

When we approach a resolution or goal with the idea that we aren't good enough, we don't have everything we already need, we are destined to fail. Making goals, Sankalpas (oaths), to ourselves should be about the goodness that is already within. It shouldn't be about changing who you are completely, you are fabulous, you are you, why change that? Yet...when it's successful, and truly means something, is when it comes from the heart, an innate desire to be whole, to let the best parts of you shine. Not when you try to diminish your light by feeling the need to become a completely new person.

So, to all of you, who are perhaps stuck on a resolution, or maybe your list is just too long. I challenge you to take a minute, celebrate how 2017 made you who you are today, and focus on what parts you'd really like to let shine in 2018. None of this New year, new you, shit. You're perfect, just the way you are. So get some glitter and toss that goodness all along the areas of your life that make you feel complete, and help you come back to you. Spend time with the people who help bring that out, who see your powers, and who recognize that. Do the things that make you happy and that make you FEEL good. May 2018 help you find the best you.

New Year, Best You.