Phrases of the New Year

Something I was thinking about today and wanted to share...

I was walking through some stores a few days ago with my friend and we both commented how it must be "that time of the year" as diet and fitness books abounded. It was insane the amount of advertising and marketing we were subject to going from store to store. No less than the holiday advertising, but some of the slogans really struck a nerve with me. The worst of the offenders was, "A New Year, A New You".

Think about that. How many years of New Years Resolutions have you not achieved? And how it's become so inane that it's a joke to many? Now, they proclaim loudly that you too can lose weight, be thin, successful, prosper, use this diet, be a "winner". IMO, it's a scam in the billions every year.

In my mind, even if I change my eating habits, lose a lot of weight, get a new job or change any other major aspect of my life, I'm still me. I'm changing my habits, I'm changing how I live, but is that changing me in a way that's making me somehow "new"? And like New Coke in 1985, who is to say this "new" me will be better?

These phrases and labels of the New Year are a destructive yet popular trend. I feel that focusing on that "label" instead of actual change, the long-term goals, you are setting yourself up to feel like you've failed. I didn't achieve my "label" today, so I've failed. I'm going to give up all-together. It's a road paved with good intentions, but we all know where that leads.

If I choose to make major changes in my life, it's not going to be a trend. It'll be changes with goals that have longevity and permanence. And I maintain that I'll still be me. I'm not going to cheapen my current self-worth to say that changing a lifestyle makes me a "better" person. I'll still be the same person, struggling to not eat too much sugar, trying to fit in a workout with two little kids, making better food choices and leading by example. But to say that future me is somehow better? I'm damned good now, thanks. Are there things to improve? Absolutely! Am I going to stumble on this journey? Of course I am! But labeling is not a positive action or direction I'm going to tread. And neither should anyone else.