"New Year; New You" ? Not for me ...

I'm writing this now as I've just received an e-mail from a well-known store inviting me to their online Beauty Department sale with the promise of a 'New Year; New You.'

At the start of another new year, I'm already noticing how often this phrase, 'New Year; New You' is being bandied about in magazines and online.  It's a line that comes around every year, and much as I see the potential good in the concept I think it's implying, it's an idea I no longer subscribe to.

I think that life is a constant process of personal development and growth and that we can always strive to be the best that we can be.   But for me, that means becoming increasingly true to my authentic self; to who I 'really' am, outwith the expectations society places on us to be a certain way.

In the past, I might have grabbed hold of the 'New Year; New You' promise and latched on to whatever product, diet, exercise regime it was attached to and placed a lot of hope in its changing me into that 'new' me.  That new me, that would somehow be a better version of the one I already was.

I think that lots of people do this.  Somehow believing that if they eat the diet, follow the exercise regime, buy the products, wear the clothes, etc., they'll somehow become a better version of themselves.  And yet by placing faith in external purchases and regimes, people are becoming increasingly detached from their true inner self.

In my counselling work, this is something I see a lot of.  People looking outside of themselves in an attempt to find themselves.  Somehow believing that other people, other peoples' rules and regimes or material objects will give them their answer, will give them their happiness.

This approach rarely works though.  People follow the diets, the exercises, buy the products and maybe feel good about themselves for a while.  But it's often a hollow sense of happiness; not the genuine happiness that comes from being congruently oneself.

So for me this year, I'm not even going to try becoming a 'new me.'

I like the me I already am.

And I don't want, or need, to change that;

but I will allow myself to grow in whatever direction my authentic self leads me ...