New Year, Same old you?
Judy Prokopiak, RN CWHC
Jan 10, 2018
New Year, New You! The annual January mantra that we are assaulted with after Christmas.
Can you really become a “new you” ? What would you look like, feel like, be like?
Most of us don’t really want to get a whole new personality, ( we are kind of attached to the one we have created already). Most of us just want to feel better, look better, do better and be better.
I just wanted to feel better too. I wanted to stop the negative thought loops and riding the shame train all damn day. Guess what? In my search for answers which I thought was another diet or workout plan, I found that it was truly time for a new me.
I’ve have made some tectonic shifts in my thinking, my limiting beliefs, my disempowering stories. Big leaps in how I treat myself and the chatter in my head. Many days it’s been a huge emotional challenge to say the least. Some days it was if II had multiple personalities… oh wait I did! The old one that was fighting to live as I sent it packing and the new one that was being created. It was a little crazy in there. Having to “upgrade” my operating system ( the subconscious one that runs the show) over the last 4-5 years while starting a business and moving multiple times has taken me on the most courageous and transformative journey of my life.
Dr Joe Dispensa says in, Breaking the Habit of being yourself, “if you want a new personal reality, you need to create a new personality”. What? I know, that is what I said. I didn’t really want a new personality, but there were so many parts of it that were no longer serving me that I had to break up with myself and let the old virus infected version go, so I could install the new program.
So what do we end up doing instead? We make little shifts here and there, some stick, most don’t. Usually it takes a pretty big life shift, like a new job, a marriage, a baby, a health scare or a move to make lasting lifestyle changes.
The reason is, we are really just a bunch of habits. We are habitually ourselves. This is one of the reasons it’s so challenging to stop eating the chips and binge watching Netflix. It takes a whole lot of focus, determination and commitment to change ( because we have to override that old operating system) even when we say we really want to make it to the gym in the morning, hitting the snooze button is our default.
Here are 3 tips to help you if you really want to become that new version 2.0 of yourself.
Have a powerful “why”. Why do you want to change this thing? What if you don’t, how will that impact your life? Why is now the time?
Have a bigger vision for your life. What would you love more of in your life? Focus on what you want (look good in the swim suit or lower cholesterol) instead of the actual problem ( I need to lose weight).
We never actually stop doing anything. We have to replace that thing we were doing with something else… a new habit.
Deciding that you want to upgrade to this new, improved version of yourself will require a new operating system. So make sure you upgrade your thinking as well. Want to change your life, take a look inside that “hard drive” and reprogram it. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it. Although I had to break bad and reboot a part of myself, I am really loving this happy, healthy, worthy me a whole lot more.