New Year, New You?

Happy New Year! The clock struck midnight, the calendar flipped a page and before we know it, the joy and happiness of Christmas is but a distant memory and January has arrived. January can be a challenging month, for many different reasons. We’re coming off the high of Christmas, parties, nights out, nights in, time spent with family and friends, time off work. It can be a wonderful time for so many and then suddenly – BAM! It’s over. And it’s January. Here in the UK we have dark mornings, dark nights, miserable weather, which can make us feel really down. Everywhere I look at the moment, be it on TV, newspapers, social media, everywhere, I am bombarded with posts and adverts and offers trying to entice me into new years resolutions. Lose weight, join a gym, buy this wonder supplement, find the one, book your once in a lifetime holiday, get your dream job, start that DIY project. Do, do, do!

It is endless. It is relentless. It is exhausting.

I used to make New Years Resolutions along with the rest of the world. And they were always the same as most people. Lose weight, join a gym, do Dry January, find a better job, cook three new recipes a week, run every day for a month. You name it, I stuck it in there. The first few days of January were always brilliant. I’d stick to my diet, I’d go running, I’d cook something amazing and I would feel so pleased with myself, so accomplished. Then of course real life would get in the way. I’d forget to take my pre-made lunch to work and have to buy a sandwich. I’d forget to take something out of the freezer that I needed to make that day’s new recipe and I’d have to make something else. It would be too rainy or icy to run so I couldn’t go. From an exhilarating high to a crashing low. Fail fail fail. Guilt guilt guilt. Five days or so into a New Year and that critical voice that lives in my head would be telling me  that I was useless, and I couldn’t even stick to a few small lifestyle changes to make me feel better.

I could never quite put my finger on it. Why I chose to do it, why I put myself through it and more importantly, why it made me feel so exhausted. Of course, since I’ve been working with Michelle it’s now staring me right in the face. Quite simply, new years resolutions put us firmly into our masculine energy.  They are goal setting, outcome orientated, result driven tasks. It’s all about action, all about doing. And when we are in our masculine energy, we can feel exhausted. Is this anyway to start a New Year?

Of course it isn’t. So, I’m approaching this New Year in my feminine energy. Leaning back, creating space and doing things that FEEL good with absolutely no outcome attached to them. Today, I wanted to write a blog post. No matter how hard I thought about it, an idea wouldn’t come to me, and I started to feel frustrated. Instead of staring at a screen desperately trying to pluck an idea out of somewhere, I took my dog out for a walk. No music, no podcast, no talking on the phone. I simply walked, enjoyed the winter sunshine and the cold biting my face, and the idea for this post just came to me. I’m learning to lean back and leave the space for my ideas to come in to, and it feels amazing!

There are some other things we can do that connect us to our bodies, to our feelings, to our hearts, and that help ground us. Take a long hot bath. Use the lovely treats you got for Christmas instead of saving them for a special occasion and savour the feeling of the warm water enveloping you. Light some candles and enjoy the scent as your home fills with your favourite smells. Walk around barefoot, digging your toes into the carpet and feel grounded to the earth below. Wear silk pyjamas and take pleasure from the way the beautiful material feels on your skin. Run, if you want to and it makes you feel good! And cook wonderful, nourishing, exotic meals but again, only if it FEELS good for you. It would feel great to hear what lovely things feel good for you – please pop them in the comments! Whatever you do, however you spend your time, I invite you to do it in your feminine energy. Feel everything. Savour the moments. Take pleasure in doing things that feel wonderful and amazing and inspiring for you.

We start each year with 365 blank pages and we can write on them whatever we choose. Choose to fill them with feelings and sensations and emotions and not tasks and goals. Lean back, listen to your feminine instinct and invite 2023 in!

Love Yvonne @ Team Michelle xx