A new year comes with a fresh start, a chance to start over. The origins of the much-coveted new year’s resolutions list may have been lost to the past, but we’ve been at it for years since we were first introduced to this practice. Plenty of us would write about losing weight, getting better grades, or even finally learning how to save money. Whatever goals you intend to work on this year, it should help you discover your value, your confidence, and give you a renewed sense of self.
Trying to become better versions of ourselves will come with a lot of challenges and falling outs in the months that are to come. Resolutions are a good start, but these should evolve to a change in perspective, a reframing of the mind, ultimately a redirection of one’s mindset. As you start to see life beyond the numbers, it fuels your drive and defines your “why,” and when it does, things will be harder before they become easy. Here’s a list of self-reminders to keep you on track:
You’ve been enough.
Even at your worst, simply for trying. That is the fundamental thing you must always remember. As a breathing, living human being, you are born for a reason. You do not need validation from anyone or anything.
Self-care is essential.
Make sure to give yourself what you truly need and what helps make you feel good. And no, that doesn’t always pertain to retail therapy, getting your favorite coffee, or whatever #treatyoself version you have. Anything from eating healthier, having enough sleep, to exercising regularly with the sole goal of feeling better, can be considered as self-care.
Discipline matters.
It’s discipline that wakes athletes up in the wee hours to spend another day in pain. It’s discipline that has made the finest masterpieces existing in the world. It’s discipline that keeps you on your toes.
Give back, always.
You are and will be blessed with abundance, and that must be kept flowing. In order to receive, give more. Everything in this world is borrowed, even your very life.
Social media isn’t real life.
Your followers aren’t really your friends. Likes and comments equate to nothing. Spend time away from your screen because it isn’t home to the life you ought to live. Connect with people. Reconnect with yourself.
Busy is a social construct.
It’s easy to be deceived: true purpose isn’t found in constant busyness. We often find ourselves so caught up in the world’s frantic pace that we fear slowing down. We treat life like a race to success, believing the only path to staying competitive is by foregoing rest—perpetually moving, working, and feeling tired.
The law of attraction.
Here’s the golden law: You are what you attract, and what you set your mind into—believe in it, nurture it, bask in it. Be warned, though. Don’t rely solely on that. You’ve got to sweat it day in and day out.
There’s something bigger out there than about you.
You live not only for yourself. Keep in mind this country being run by a president who publicly promotes rape and murder. We’ve done plenty in the previous year by defending human rights and protesting both in the streets and social media, standing by our ground that while hundreds of lackeys and thousands of trolls back his stance, impunity, corruption, and rape should not be normalized and further ingrained in our culture. Remember your silence becomes the foundation of a tyrant’s strength.
A renewed sense of self can be as simple as understanding your relationship with yourself deeper. There are things much more than the physical attributes that we possess, or the material things that attach ourselves to. Listed above are eight specific points that will hopefully pave way towards self-reflection as we try to be even better individuals.
Allow these to inspire you to dive into the unknown with reckless abandon, and to come back and sniff out everything you’ve missed on your encounters with the familiar, hoping they bring you back to yourself.
