New Year, New Me?

New Year,  New Me! 

Or not… 

I love the passion behind the sentiment,  but I don't love the sentiment at all.  To say new me is to imply that the current you is less than. That you're not worthy of love, improvement, or growth. 

When I work with my long-term care patients, we often discuss the differences in generations.  One topic that comes up frequently is how in the past, everything was fixable, and there were people capable of doing the fixing. You didn't throw away the toaster when it quit working,  you repaired it.  You didn't get a new telephone every year. You didn't throw away your socks when they got a hole,  you mended them.  The value placed on  making something last was paramount. 

Now there are two realities here we must face. One, products are just not made like they used to be and technology is moving so fast that replacements are necessary just to keep up. This is just a side effect of the times that we are living in. But something else that comes with the times is a life expectancy far greater than what we saw 50 years ago. With the education, advancements in health care, and access to proper water, nutrition, and medicines, we really do live longer lives. So why then, do we try to convince ourselves that we need to “replace” the person we are, instead of repairing ourselves? 

New year, new habit. New year, new routine. New year, new lifestyle. Those are the type of sentiments I can get behind. You will never successfully find a “new you” because you are always present. The version of yourself today also contains the person you were at 20, and 13, and 2 years old. You do not become a new person. You become a better version of your root being. You repair old habits, relationships, and lifestyles. You mend a broken heart. You grow and evolve. 

That is the goal we should strive for. To become the best version of ourselves we can be. That doesn’t mean becoming someone different or someone new. That doesn’t mean trying to emulate someone we are not. That means we become the purest version of ourselves. Sure that looks different in every season of life. But that is the best part about this journey we are on. The version of Purely You at 20 years old learned things that Purely You at 35 needed to know. We don’t “throw the baby out with the bathwater” as they say. You just continue to build on what you’ve already learned and know. 

You are not a different person, you are a better version of the same person you were before (I hope). 

So if your goals for the year include a “new year, new me” attitude, I wish you luck. I'm not sure where to find the newest model of human beings.  I don't think they are at Target...

But if instead, you’re ready to approach the year with a desire to let your truest self shine, then let's work together! Book your first session today.