Sure, I get it. The slogan we hear year after year, "New Year, New You" is catchy.
It's got the marketing marvel of simplicity and succinctness as well as the installation of hope to stick to those robust resolutions of becoming, a "NEW YOU".
It may be catchy, but the slogan is dead WRONG and it's a set up. This might be big news, but "YOU" are the same "YOU" January 1st 2015 that you were at 11:59 pm December 31st, 2014 and that is a good thing!
I think the notion of this slogan is huge contributing factor to the results of research reported in Forbes Magazine recently done by the University of Scranton suggesting that just 8% of people achieve their New Year's goals. Have you ever said "I'll start on Monday" after a weekend of over eating? Or how about, "I am never drinking again" after a few too many and a hangover that could take out an alligator? Ever wonder why those resolutions haven't stuck?
Here's the bigger question: what is wrong with the "Old You," anyway? To do anything in this life, —change, grow, learn, and create— we need our old selves. We need the bumps, the bruises and the broken hearts of our history to cultivate the wisdom so desperately needed to make any changes moving forward.
Our old self is where it's at! It houses the luscious, rich, extraordinary experiences of our lives that we need to draw upon to be a better person, lose weight, spend more time with our families, join a gym, get organized, be less stressed, drink less, stop smoking, decrease debt, volunteer or any other of the number of "resolutions" exclaimed each and every year by millions of people.
Sure, it feels good, maybe even lifesaving to resolve wishes and end the tension of the conflict that you might be in, but change is not a quick process and it absolutely requires that you don't just toss out your old self. On the contrary! True transformation starts with gathering up all your experiences and information and taking a look at it from a different angle. The way to change, really change and get closer to clenching the desires of your heart is all through shifting your view.
So, instead of "New Year, New You," I say New Year, New View!
Take a moment, heck, vow to take many moments to excavate the old you and your experiences, make real contact with yourself, daily and by all means get curious before critical and take a fresh look knowing that the past is your lesson, the present is your gift and the future is your motivation!
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