At this time of year many of us think about “New Year’s Resolutions.” These can be a fun way to motivate ourselves, but often they become something we use to punish ourselves. We want to use them to fix ourselves, thinking that if we can just run far enough, do yoga often enough, eat the perfect diet, work hard enough etc etc, we will be good enough and feel worthy. 

But what if we allow ourselves to feel okay with who and how we are right now?

And what if when we support others, we see them as good enough too?

What if we recognise our innate wholeness, inner wisdom and health?

What if these, and seeing ourselves as good enough actually makes it easier to achieve our goals, not harder as we often fear? (Here’s a secret: it does! Research shows it is easier to take action when we’re compassionate with ourselves rather than self-punishing.) 

I love this wisdom from Amy Johnson:

When I stopped “working on myself” and put an end to the all-consuming quest to be better than I already was, life became infinitely nicer. Stop Trying to be Better and just BE, Better.

I used to believe I had a problem: life wasn’t always wonderful. Making myself a more self-actualized, better person looked like the obvious solution.

Turns out, all of that supposed self-help was actually the problem, not the fix. All of that self-absorption was creating the very “I should be better” problem I was trying to solve.”

Dr Amy Johnson

What if you made a New Year’s resolution to just BE, and to let that be enough? Why wait the 2 days till 2023? What if you allow yourself to just be right now? How about we all meet the new year with love?

PS. If you enjoyed this article and haven’t yet read either of Amy Johnson’s books: The Little Book of Big Change and Just a Thought, I absolutely recommend them. They will help you see that you are truly doing the best you can in this moment, and that you always have been. If you’re in the UK, you can support independent bookshops and me both at the same time by buying the books through the above links — at no extra cost to you! (Full disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org.uk, which is where those links lead.)

If you’re in the US, if you buy on Amazon through the following links, I will receive a small commission: The Little Book of Big Change and Just a Thought.

Thank you!