What if you are good enough, just as you are? What if your New Year’s Resolution doesn’t involve a sweeping life change?
Maybe, your life and your person, as they stand, are perfectly sufficient. Good. Great even!?!
Maybe contentment and gratitude are the goals for this new year. Not major overhauls. Not new behaviors. Just a healthier habit of less judgment and more thankfulness.
I could make a goal of better fitness, or can be thankful for my health as it is. I can pursue more money, or I can appreciate the lifestyle and wealth I have. I might be better off if I was more spiritual, but I am pretty content with my connections to people and the universe as they are.
Goals are great. They drive us and help us improve. But they can also drive us nuts and spoil moments of happiness. Goals can become the critical voice in your head, the “you’re not X or Y enough”, the things that limit your joy.
So don’t change you. Don’t get a gym membership. Don’t quit smoking or eat fruit or declutter. (Well, maybe do some of that…)
Focus instead on making a small but difficult change in the way you talk to yourself. Stop the inner critic and instead practice loving kindness in your self assessment. For every “I’m not…” statement, try to make 2-3 “yes, but I AM…” statements.
You (and your life) are great as they are. And, maybe they could be a little better.
But let’s start with a solid foundation. A belief that changing habits doesn’t mean invalidating all you are and all you’ve done. Thank yourself for getting you this far already.
{High Five!}
“You didn’t come this far to only come this far.”
Balance pride in your life’s successes against a desire to improve. Appreciate your progress, but maybe don’t stop growing just yet. There might be something great around the corner, but where you are now is still pretty dang good.
