Skinny Jeans vs. Self Acceptance

Cathy looks at New Year's resolutions vs growing comfortable in your self.

Skinny Jeans vs. Self-Acceptance - Which Will You Choose?

Welcome to the new year -- which means welcome to resolution central. Many years ago, I made a New Year's resolution to never make another New Year's resolution. It is the only one I ever kept.

I've been on a self-acceptance kick lately. The concept of New Year's resolution seems counter intuitive to this practice. Most resolutions deal with losing weight or stopping a particular behavior (like smoking) -- not bad changes; however, these also seem to say "I'm not good enough as I am. When I successfully achieve these goals, THEN I will be happy/satisfied/like myself."

Instead of resolving to be something in the future, let's follow the yoga principle of living in the moment. That means being the best person you can be now. Will you be skinnier now? No-- but you can still be kind and content with yourself as you are today. Will you stop smoking now? Maybe -- but what about 5 minutes from now? If you are living in the moment and trying to be the best person you can be now, you give yourself permission to CHOOSE to eat healthy, you CHOOSE to exercise, you CHOOSE to skip that cigarette. It isn't about some fake promise of who you can be in the future. More importantly, if you are living in the moment, then your mistakes and bad choices don't define who you are -- because you aren't living in the past either. I will eat cake on my birthday (and LOVE every bite.) But I won't beat myself up or give up on being a better version of myself because I "failed" at some silly promise I made myself on a particular date on the calendar.

You don't need to make a resolution to be the best person you can be in this moment. Just find a little joy in the journey. Attempt to make good decisions and forgive yourself when you don't. Practice self-acceptance and kindness to yourself -- it feels better than any pair of skinny jeans you could wear.