It’s that time of year again. 2013 is winding down, and lots of people are taking stock of the previous twelve months, me included. We examine our hopes and dreams, figure out how well we managed (or not) to achieve them. Add flogging as guilt (and pleasure) demands. Personally, I know I never measure up to the visions I had at the beginning of the year. Hence, the next round of resolutions is born. Even though I’m really, REALLY tired of the whole flogging thing.
I approach this time of year with a certain amount of trepidation. I never make my weight loss goals. Ever. And I realized this morning that the end-of-year tension is beginning to make my shoulder muscles feel like concrete. Again.
And then a miracle happened. (Cue angelic music now.)
I read a blog entry sometime in the last few days that held the key to my salvation. (I believe it was a post written by a ROW80 member – who, I can’t recall, otherwise I’d give credit where a huge amount of credit is due.) I’m very bad with names. Ask any of my characters.
Anyway, the goal of this member was both simple and profound. It was (and I’m paraphrasing here): Don’t forget to be nice/kind to yourself.
Wow.
The simplicity of that almost brought me to my knees. I realized that in the process of being kind to myself, everything else falls into place.
If you’re kind to yourself, you automatically do things that make you feel good. Doing things that make you feel sick? Probably not. Therefore, I’ll be eating better, just to be kind to myself. Why do something that would make you unhappy, right? Exercising, too. I’m not going to the gym and working on horrible machines. Nope, not at all. I’m going to find something to do that makes me feel happy. And I’ll do that. Or not, as my body and emotions tell me.
So, instead of putting myself through something that stresses me out, I’m going to be nice to myself this year. I can feel the stress flowing out of my body already. It’s almost as good as sinking up to my chin in a hot tub, outside, at night, with gently falling snow all around me. That’s a good way to be nice to yourself, too.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Lara McGill 