A NEW YOU? REALLY?!

It's February 1^st, already. It seems like it's only been a minute since we made all those New Year’s resolutions. Yeah, it was just last month. How time flies when you are trying to do life, and keep up with what you said you would do to be a “new you” this year!  A “new” YOU…really? That is what you said, isn’t it? 

I imagine some of you swore off "sweets", while others decided to stop eating chicken or something. My guess is that millions of us faithfully confessed we would lose weight and exercise more, launch a dream, learn to dance, watch less TV and finally write "that book", cook at home more often, find the “right” job, save more money, set up a budget, give more, volunteer, go to church, make more time for yourself, make more time for other people, climb a mountain, plan a trip, stop bad habits, give up SOMETHING, and, of course, we vowed to be just plain better at just about EVERYTHING under the sun. 

That was then. This is now, only thirty-one days later. The resolutions are feeling less and less important, if not forgotten, and you are about to be your same “O.K. self” once again. You’re flat lining on your 2012 promise at the expense of not doing that fantastic “thing” you want to do, or becoming that fabulous and fierce somebody you vowed you were going to become this year,  and from now on. My, oh my. Say it isn’t so!

Well, whatever it was that you decided would help you "do" more and "be" more, I wanted to offer you a little encouragement to stay the course, stay on the wagon and stay committed. Some of us just need a little re-charging, if you will. I get it, so here goes:

 1. YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO DO THIS! And now you're feeling what? Like giving up and giving in? GOD FORBID! Change ain't always easy.  YOU CAN DO IT! Don't depend on anyone else to help you make this happen. YOU MAKE IT HAPPEN! Other people can encourage you and support you, but I suggest YOU be your own coach and cheerleader. In other words, be IN IT TO WIN IT, BABY!

 2.  “IT'S NOT GOING TO MATTER IF I DON'T DO IT”.  It mattered on January 1st, and now it doesn't??? O.K., that's enough of that backdoor attitude! If your resolution was spoken earnestly and honestly, don't try to slip out the back way on yourself as if no one else will notice. Maybe no one else will, but you know the deal. Just because it feels a little hard and challenging, DON’T ALLOW YOURSELF TO QUIT and say it doesn’t matter. Remind yourself of all of the reasons that IT DOES! You’re worth it. You deserve it. You need it for your very own important reasons.

3.  SELF-IMPROVEMENT CAN GO A LONG WAY. When you set special goals for yourself and you accomplish them, it really does make you feel better about yourself, all over. You feel good. You feel happier. You feel prouder. You feel more fulfilled. You feel important. You feel more complete. You feel self-assured. You feel confident. You feel like a conqueror. Life can even feel better. NEED I SAY MORE? You wouldn’t want to trade those new and wonderful feelings of SELF-ESTEEM and ACCOMPLISHMENT for the world, would you? I didn’t think so.

So now, let’s do it again: RE-COMMIT. Re-commit today, and re-commit tomorrow, and re-commit the next day, and the next day after that. Yes, sometimes it can be a real challenge to stay on track and take yourself to your next level, but you want to be a “new you”, right? YOU CAN BE, and you better believe it! HAPPY NEW YOU, Friend!

S.R.F.

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