Are You Janu-Ready?

Hello Friends,

Welcome Back! Are you Janu-Ready? Have you come up with the laundry list of things that you’d like to begin in the month of January? Things that will sustain your goal-driven self for the rest of 2021? Are you ready to start that workout plan? Have you busted out the food scale, and the people scale, to embark on your weight loss journey? Have you bought out all of the things from Target, in order to begin your new Pinterest-worthy organized closets/kitchen/bedroom/LIFE? Hang on there Nellie! Before you begin the major upheaval, I’d like to offer you a simpler option that is the foundation for all of your goals. This little trick will not only make your New Year’s resolutions more attainable, it will also create more time in your life and make your relationships better. This radical yet simple step will help you get really clear about things you’d like to change, or do, or create, as well as inspire you with ways to make these changes lasting. You ready? Here it is. Love Yourself First. This is the key to a lifetime of carrying out your goals, self-love/care, and making your dreams come true.

You diet, hoping your body will change by removing carbs, or fats, or getting food in the mail. You join a gym, that you may or may not go to, hoping that your body will get healthier. You carry out sweeping changes throughout your home, and it looks beautiful.

In the short-term, you lose 20Lbs., which is very gratifying until you gain all of it back, plus 5 lbs. more. Here’s my PSA of the day: Diets don’t work, except in the short-term. In the long-term they can actually be damaging. You begin working out, and you notice how really good it actually makes you feel. You stop after a month, because you’re not seeing the changes you expected. You loved the way your home felt, all pretty and organized, but the maintenance was exhausting to keep up.

Losing weight, getting healthy, and getting more organized are all good things! But, my dear friend, you are doing it all backwards. The secret lies in loving yourself first. In order for any of your goals to come to fruition, you must love, accept, adore yourself, exactly as you are, first. No more looking in the mirror, compartmentalizing every single body part. No more telling yourself, “My belly’s too big. My muffin top has turned into a pound-cake.” No more hating your Peloton, and thereby hating yourself . No more scolding yourself for not being tidy enough.

You’re operating from the wrong set of intentions. You’re operating from your nasty little inner-critic. You’re thinking that your life will be better “If only I can lose 20lbs.”, “If only I can get 6-pack abs,” “If only I can keep all my pens in one place, and all my clothing Kondo-ed.” Once you begin operating from a place of “Love Yourself First,” that internal critic will be gone, and all of your goals will become easier. You will no longer look towards change as a way to remove the negative, but as a kind and loving process of enhancing the positive, and accepting of all the things that make you YOU! Are you Janu-Ready for this kind of radical acceptance?