Appreciating the Present Moment
Anti-New Year’s Resolutions?
It’s the end of another year… and the long-standing tradition of making New Year’s resolutions creeps into the conversations between your family and friends. Your brother wants to start going to the gym everyday so he can lose weight, your best friend wants to go keto, and your mother wants to actually stay organized by keeping up with a daily planner. Suddenly, it’s your turn to share your New Year’s resolution - an arbitrary goal marked simply by the end of the calendar year - and you panic. You think to yourself… What have I accomplished this year? What do I need to improve upon? Am I not good enough already?
The bottomline is - making New Year’s resolutions is not worth your time, energy, and/or effort. Unfortunately, the majority of New Year’s resolutions stem from a combination of the societal pressure to diet, the suffocating culture of matching an unrealistic body type, and the guilt of enjoying holiday meals with family and friends. New Year’s resolutions also imply that who you are in the present moment is not “good enough” - and therefore, you must make a lofty, often unrealistic, goal to make yourself “better” in the upcoming year. Especially when it comes to making goals surrounding body image and dieting, New Year’s resolutions can become extremely toxic because they force the notion that bodies should look a certain way.
So what can you do?? Making goals and/or plans is not inherently bad; accomplishing challenging tasks can be extremely rewarding! However, it’s important to remember that goals focused on altering the body or your daily diet do not support fostering a positive relationship with the Self. Additionally, New Year’s resolutions are often extremely broad, making it difficult to measure any progress! Instead, I have included some fun ideas and activities below for you try around New Year’s this year. Without focusing on changing yourself in the upcoming year, you can still enjoy this holiday season, live in the present moment, and be proud of all the goals you have already accomplished!
Make a 2023 Bucket List: What experiences do you want to tackle this year? This could be related to school, work, personal relationships, or home life.
Create a Monthly Challenge: Do you want to read a certain number of books in a month? Or maybe pick up a new skill/hobby? Creating task-oriented challenges to be accomplished within a month are much more attainable due to the concrete timeframe.
Try Keeping a Gratitude Journal: Incorporating a gratitude journal into your daily life helps to reveal all of the wonderful things happening around you. Even if it’s small, writing down things you are grateful for help to shift your perspective and can reduce potential anxiety and/or depression.
Create a Mindfulness Exercises Jar: Especially when our minds are focused on bettering ourselves in the future, mindfulness exercises help to bring us back to the present moment. This jar could be filled with short meditations, body scan exercises, or mindfulness walks outside.
Make a Realistic Goals List: Again, making goals is not inherently bad. Your realistic goals list could include diverse activities with different levels of intensity or ability so that they don’t feel as daunting. Then, be sure to incorporate smaller increments for progress checks so that your goals feel more attainable and achievable. Be sure your goals are rooted in your personal values!
Use a Vision Board: Where do you want to go and what do you want to achieve this year? Vision boards can be created using all sorts of art media, and they are typically more general than concrete goals/lists. Dream big and be sure to keep your finished vision board where you can see it so you can reflect on it throughout the upcoming year.
Have a Word or Mantra of the Week/Month/Year: This word or mantra can loosely define what you want out of the next week/month/year. Specific words or mantras can help to refocus your intentions or sense of self when you are presented with a challenge!
… something to NEVER forget!
If any of these New Year’s activities still feel too intimidating, please don’t worry. The best piece of advice I can give you as we approach the end of this year is that you are enough just the way you are. There is nothing that the end of a calendar year can tell you about yourself - nor can it tell you what you should change about yourself for the future. Remember to breathe, be proud of yourself for moving through another year, and smile as you continue forward!
Resource Citation:
Johnson, C. (2021, December 28). 8 alternatives to new year’s resolutions. Kidpass. https://www.mommynearest.com/article/8-alternatives-to-new-years-resolutions
Calming and Restorative Breathing Exercise
This time of year can be particularly overwhelming and stressful with different schedule changes and the general pressure to “finish everything” before the end of the year. If you get the chance to take a moment away from family and friends this holiday season, check out the video below - a demonstration of Nadi Shodhana, a pranayama (breathing) exercise that is great for calming the mind and the body. Nadi Shodhana in Sanskrit loosely translates to “alternate-nostril breathing”; this exercise involves controlling the passage of air through your nose to instill a sense of peace and relaxation in the nervous system. Enjoy the quiet, stillness of the breath, and I hope this exercise provides you with a sense of comfort in the present moment!
Combatting Winter Dry Skin
I don't know about you, but I get DRY in the winter. Here are some tips to keep your skin WELL and flake free all winter long.
Tip #1 - Always moisturize your face in the morning and in the evening, remembering the area around your eyes. Be sure to use skin care formulated for your skin type and free of perfumes, dyes, and heavy metals - all of which are harmful on your skin. I use Honey and Rose by Sei Bella during the winter months.
Tip #2 - Keep baths and/or showers between five and ten minutes long. More than that, you may strip away much of the skin's oily top layer, causing it to lose moisture. Also, bathing with lukewarm water instead of hot water helps to retain more of the skin’s natural oils.
Tip #3 - Use fragrance-free and eco friendly laundry detergents to prevent skin irritation. A good, eco friendly detergent recommendation is MelaPower by Melaleuca. Avoiding fabric softeners will also help to protect your skin.
Tip #4 - Use a humidifier in the winter. Set it to around 60%, a level that should be sufficient to replenish the top layer of the skin.
Tip #5 - Apply moisturizer immediately after bathing or washing your hands. This helps to plug the spaces between your skin cells, sealing in moisture while your skin is still damp. RENEW lotion by Melaleuca is proven to stop eczema, dry skin, and rosacea.
Tip #6 - Choose Wellness Inspired Beauty. Sei Bella combines the most powerful ingredients found in nature with the safest and most effective scientific knowledge - creating products that enhance, not change; perfect, not cover up; highlight, not hide your natural skin. All Sei Bella skin care products are cruelty-free, non-toxic, free of heavy metals, and made in the US.
As always, thank you all so much for engaging with this month’s content! May your New Year’s be full of laughs, delicious food, and quality time spent with family and friends. Take care and be WELL!