By Sophie Balisky, Silver Linings volunteer
As the last decade draws to a close and 2020 is restlessly anticipated, let’s discuss something important: New Year’s resolutions.
The beginning of January is guaranteed to be full of noise about weight loss. There is no escaping the flurry of “self-improvement” marketing that begins as soon as the clock strikes midnight. The diet and fitness industries do their utmost to exploit the promise of a “new year, new you.”
The mainstream weight loss-focused New Year’s resolution has disappointed me year after year. As a teenager, it made me compare myself to others and convinced me that my body size was indicative of my worth. Later, during my struggle with an eating disorder, it would trigger me deeper into destructive behaviours. Now, it just makes me angry. Can’t we come up with more creative and uplifting New Year’s resolutions?
With this in mind, here are some resolutions that have nothing to do with changing your body:
Work on honouring your emotions. Resist the urge to avoid and distract and instead, truly experience what you feel.
Drive your weight scale to an alley dumpster, throw it in and drive off. Bye, Felicia.
Begin and end your day by giving yourself a meaningful compliment. Set a “self-love alarm” on your phone as a reminder.
Promise to not speak negatively about anyone’s body, including your own. Only pay attention to the things that you love about yourself and others.
Find and commit to a form of exercise that you actually enjoy, then include your friends!
Disable the calorie counting function on your smart watch. Count your blessings instead.
Spend more time with people who inspire you and make you feel excited about life.
Grant yourself permission to do absolutely nothing. Allow yourself to rest once in awhile.
Challenge yourself to go out to a restaurant and order exactly what you want from the menu.
Volunteer your time with a cause that resonates with you and makes you feel like you’re making a difference.
Create a mindful morning routine. Mine involves coffee, a short meditation and listening to music as I get ready for the day.
Cut back on your social media consumption. Go through who you follow and delete any accounts that don’t contribute positivity to your life.
Commit to something that pushes you out of your comfort zone, like public speaking, bungee jumping or solo travel.
Write down everything you would want in a best friend and then become those things yourself.
Challenge yourself to be less afraid of making mistakes.
Make a list of all the ways in which you know you are amazing. Put it in an envelope, address it to yourself and read it on a rainy day.
Choose a skill that you’ve always wanted to learn like water colour painting or a second language and start working towards mastering it.
Or…how about going into 2020 with no added pressure or expectations? Simply resolving to love and accept yourself as you are, flaws and all, now that is truly a New Year’s resolution worth making!
