New Year – Old Me

Welcoming the new year usually starts with new year’s resolutions, right?

We’re all familiar with the phrase “New Year, New Tricks, New Me”. We decide to try new things, do more, be more, become a new better version of ourselves, however, by mid-February at the latest we have already forgotten about all our promises.

Does that sound like a familiar scenario? For majority of us, unfortunately it does. And it’s no wonder as change takes effort. Our mind loves what’s familiar and hates unfamiliar, therefore it will always try and go back to what it knows, to the familiar. So, you have to keep reminding it of the new, the new habits, the new you and the moment you forget, your mind gladly returns back to its old familiar ways.

And the new resolutions you made, are they what you actually really want? Or do you think you want to do these because you see other people doing them, you see them advertised on social media and magazines and believe they would make you as happy as you think they are?

How about this? Instead of imagining a new you, think back to the time you were a child. Remember the things you loved doing when you were between 7 – 14 years old, what made you happy and excited as a child? And make it your only resolution to start doing more of that one thing (or few things) that you absolutely loved as a child. This will bring you more enjoyment and happiness this year than all the new things you’re trying to keep up with from your New Year’s Resolution list.

The reason for this is, that by going back to your childhood pleasures, you are re-awakening your purpose, and the natural talents you were born with. As a child you were still close to your true self and knew instinctively what you were here to do. That was before school, our culture, society and adults around us made us believe something very different about ourselves and what was important and, sadly, cut us off from our inner childlike joy.

So, pick up a pen and write down the things you loved doing as a child and make a promise to yourself you will be doing more of that this year. Perhaps you loved playing a vet and wanted to look after pets, maybe you always wanted to be a vet, but never managed to get there. You don’t need to do anything drastic and leave your job to study veterinarian, but you could volunteer at a local animal shelter instead. There are many evening glasses and amateur/enthusiast clubs on almost any possible subject you could ever imagine to join.

Why not make it your mission to be and do what you wanted to be and do as a child. I guarantee this will bring you so much happiness and joy to your life. And when you’re feeling happy and full of excitement for the start of a new day, you will have more energy to do (and stick to) some of those resolutions you were going to do, like eating more healthily and exercising more.

Wishing you the most abundant, joyful and healthy year ahead. May 2022 bring you everything you could wish for!