Hey, Happy New Year, and welcome to 2024!!
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s cut to the chase…New Year’s resolutions. Have you made any? Do you feel pressure to make any? How many times have you come across the “New Year, new me” posts on social media, or “New Year, new you” advertisements?
If you’re sensing an edge to my tone here, it’s because I work with women who are so darn hard on themselves already, and these New Year’s messages about self-improvement only add fuel to that “not good enough” fire. But I have an idea!
What if we opted out of all that this year? What if your 2024 mantra was more like, “I’m already a G.D. masterpiece, thank you very much.”
Hmm…I can hear the self-doubt already creeping in, otherwise known as the “Yes, buts….” Ok, how about this: let’s simply embrace the Sophia Bush (actress and activist) quote, “You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress, simultaneously.” That’s do-able, right?
When it comes to self-acceptance and self-care, people-pleasers, empaths, and emotional caretakers struggle. We take on other people’s issues, we over-identify, we “feel bad,” we feel guilty, and we just want to keep the peace, too often at our own expense. The price we pay? Sacrificing our authenticity.
People-pleasers, empaths, and emotional caretakers are often disconnected from their own emotions, disconnected from their authentic selves. So much of our emotional energy is going out, we neglect our own needs. We either feel empty or emotionally overwhelmed. We may be vaguely unhappy or just a bit lonely, in spite of the blessings around us (which we shame ourselves into acknowledging– “What’s wrong with me? I should be grateful.”).
The last thing people-pleasers, empaths, and emotional caretakers need is to be given the opportunity to critique themselves further and focus on their “flaws” via the classic New Year’s Resolution list of self-improvement.
No. This year we’re going to start out already believing that we are enough. Perfect? Hell no. No one is. But yes, good enough.
If you’re still reading this with your mind full of “yes, buts…,” I see you.
I lovingly invite you to put down the “yes, buts…,” the list of things you still feel you need to change about yourself and embrace your worthiness right here, right now, just as you are.
You are worthy and you are enough. You don’t need to be anything, achieve anything, or perform in any particular role to be worthy. You just are. End of story.
Let 2024 be the year you allow yourself to just be where you are. And if you must set goals, set them around a celebration of the self (your self).
Embrace self-care.
Embrace self-compassion.
Embrace your worthiness (just as you are).
In 2024, reverse the “golden rule,” and treat yourself with as much love, compassion, and respect as you treat everyone else.
New Year, Same You…you’re just embracing the “you” you already are.
You are worthy and you are enough. 🌷