Forget New Year's Resolution... Find Your Word Instead
New Year’s resolutions have always been a bit foreign to me. In my culture, our tradition is to eat twelve grapes at midnight, each one representing a wish. We would also write down all the positive things from the past year and on another piece of paper we would write down all the negative things then we would burn all the negatives at midnight, and that was that.
Also, New Year’s resolutions never resonated with me. Perhaps because I saw goals as rules you must follow. Rules make me feel trapped and then I would rebel against them. Now that I am a nutritionist, I realize how important and how self-damaging New Year's Resolutions can be.
New Year's Resolutions can be a recipe for future guilt. For example: “Get fit" sounds like a sensible goal to have, but it doesn't feel very inspiring. Even the more specific “Go to the gym twice a week” has failure built in. I either go to the gym twice a week or I don’t — there’s no room for any other outcome (and that's when we beat ourselves up for "failing").
My mission is to help my clients reach their health goals, but to reach them from a loving, empowering, nourishing place. The more unrealistic expectations you put on yourself the more feelings of “failure”, lack of “self-control”, and “will-power” starts to appear which can lower your self-esteem. Instead of creating a recipe for suffering, let’s engage in a more inspiring way to welcome the New Year.
A few years ago I read an article 3 Words to Shape the Year Ahead that inspired me to practice something similar. The article talks about finding words for the New Year.
I immediately fell in love with the idea of choosing words to help motivate me and my clients!
"Words can EMPOWER
rather than order,
INSPIRE rather than judge.
You can't "break" a word like you can break a resolution."
- Susannah Conway
The word (or words!) you choose is there to inspire you whenever you need it. Your word is your ally. It might infuse its wisdom through every single day of the year. It's also unlikely you'll forget all about your word until that day in May when — BAM! — you remember exactly why you chose that word.
I have been doing this for the past 3 years and it has guided me into self-growth, self-compassion, self-kindness, self-knowledge and intuition.
The first year I did this exercise my words were EMBRACE, LOVE and NURTURE. All three were words I needed to overcome a difficult period in my life that taught me how to take care of and love myself in a nurturing way. That year I discovered the true meaning of self-love and self-care.
The following year, my words were AUTHENTICITY, COURAGE and INTEGRITY. These words were supportive to uncovering my business philosophy and mission.
TRUTH was my word of 2019. This word has really kept me connected my TRUE essence. Not what or who I "should" be, but being able to remember who I truly am.
I invite you to try it out!
I am giving away the worksheets I used to uncover my word for FREE here. This year I am adding an extra ingredient which is reviewing your DECADE!
Taking time to review your last 10 years (without judgement) is so important. Most of us live so fast these days and we have so many things that we are working on, that we rarely, if ever, actually just stop and take the time to digest all the progress we have made.
I know it's hard to give yourself time to assimilate and explore all of this on your own, that is why I am hosting and event to gather and do this together before the year ends on December 29th! Event details here.
I would love to hear what words are you choosing for the beginning of this new and exciting decade?!
Love & Light
- Diana