It’s officially the most boring day of the year, January 2nd. Holiday hype, excitemement and lights are all over. Stripped down and packed away for next year. I’ve officially reached my goal of eating my weight in cheese-which is interesting because I DON’T EAT CHEESE! I’ve cleaned out my office closet and successfully created three new piles of “shit to organize and find a home for later”! So, what’s left?!
Ohhhhh yeahhhh….the New Years Resolution. (I scoff!)
Rules are stupid and resolutions are just fancy rules that we are forced to make for ourselves because we want to start fresh and be a better version of ourselves. How about that then? Just be a better version of yourself!
As someone who taught yoga for eight years, I was unfortunate to see the overwhelming wave of new students in my classes in January. Probably 85% lasted through the end of February. Now, I know what you’re thinking and I can honestly say-I was not a shitty yoga teacher. I was great! The numbers were the same across all classes, in all the different studios and gyms I taught at. I guess we just get excited about starting something new, making positive changes and then we realize how much work it actually is.
That’s right. Taking care of OURSELVES is really daunting work! It’s like having another child. We have one named ‘house’, one named ‘work’, one named ‘family’, ‘friends’, ETC! All these responsibilities are like children demanding our attention so that at the end of the day, there is very little time left for ‘ME’…so we pacify that brat with a glass of wine and call it a day. Right? Yup.
So, what do we do? Something. Anything. Add twenty minutes of reading a book to that glass of wine. Decide to hit a yoga class with a friend-don’t set up a schedule to stick to-just go take ONE and see where it leads you. Walk your dog-this one can be completely selfless anyway because you have to take care of your ‘pet’ children! Try ordering your burrito without cheese, just to see if you miss it…(psst-you will most likely, I can tell you from experience that this idea takes a longer commitment. Did you know that dairy is addictive?! IT IS! See-you can’t even help it…but if you want to be stronger, more disciplined…..hmmmm….) What else?! I’m sure you can think of plenty.
The idea I’m spewing here is this, don’t set yourself up for failure because you create a rule for change that is dictated by the calendar. Calendars are stupid and time doesn’t exist anyway!!! -(I tell my possible developing crows feet that all the time!!!) Instead, try something new. Take a different route to work. Walk to the grocery store or coffee shop. Try a new class-yoga, pottery, stripper pole training-only for the purpose of being able to tell the story and laugh about it afterwards. Do it because you just need to change things up a bit, you want to live and laugh through new experiences and ideas. Do it because thats just how you LIVE…by experience.
Maybe something awesome will happen. Maybe not. Heres the thing-NOBODY CARES BUT YOU! So relax, hit the rolling eyes emoticon on all the “resolution” posts on facebook and give yourself a damn break this New Year!
PEACE!
(Also, if you do try the no cheese bit and it sends you on an attempt to have a cheese or dairy free lifestyle-skip the vegan cheese. You’re better off without. Eating vegan cheese (or cauliflower pizza crust!) is like having sex with your pants on.
