New year, new you.
‘Tis the season.
The annual parade of coaches, health centers, and the big western medicine organizations are out in full force promising that this year will be different.
That with their help–and most often at a price–we can be a new, better, thinner, luckier, manifestier, more loveable, more successful, fitter version of ourselves.
Caveat 1. I love a good program or 100-day challenge to get me to a health or business goal. Caveat 2. I like to make money so the “often at a price” comment is not meant to imply that everything should be free.
But here’s the thing about NYNY.
I’ve never liked the idea.
Sounds like failure on the horizon to me. It also sounds like a make-wrong way of seeing ourselves.
Yes it’s well-intentioned, not to mention catchy, but I hear the subtle implication that the current version of a person is somehow inadequate or unworthy, which can feel dismissive or even shaming.
It says that self-worth is contingent on transformation, framing the new year as a blank slate that requires abandoning the old self.
With its focus on external changes—weight loss, productivity hacks, or material achievements–the inherent, internal strengths and wisdom you possess are deserted.
If you’ve been a NYNY-er in the past and had success, love that new version of you, and will keep doing the new years to come in the same way, keep doing what works as long as it feels good.
If not, or you’ve just never gotten where you wanted to go with this kind of thinking, how about a new way for this new year
What if this is the year you pause and take stock of the incredible person you already are? Look at your strengths, quirks, and qualities and decide which of them you’ll carry forward into the year ahead.
Sure, there are always habits to tweak or leave behind. Everyone’s got something.
But what if this year wasn’t just about fixing things?
Maybe this is the year “new you” means you lean into self-love, spend more time feeling good about who you are, and nurture this one amazing body that carries you through life.
Happy New Year peeps.
Wishing you all the best this year has to offer.
PS-I’ve got news to share early in the new year. When I reveal it you might say, “Greg, this sounds like you are NYNY-ing it.” Nope. I don’t want to be anyone but me–at last–but I’ve outgrown some aspects of the current brand so it’s time to expand. Stay tuned.
