What if we changed the January saying? Maybe, instead of “New Year, New You” we should try “New Year, Old You?!”
Maybe you shouldn’t be reinventing yourself and changing yourself – maybe this is the year to go back to what once was?
When were you happy? As a kid, did you enjoy sports, piano, video games, drawing, reading fiction…? It might look a little different as an “adult,” but you can reclaim some of that old, lost sense of self this year. Try pickleball, the piano app for iPad, the Mario game on your phone, sketching your kids sleeping, getting lost in some fantasy smut novel. The methods change but the childlike sense of play and leisure is what we want BACK!
Do you remember as a kid (depending on your age now) … spacing out on car rides in the back seat? Watching the rain drop run down the window, imagining stories, or reliving moments in your head? Daydreaming, with no distractions?
We can go back to that too! Let yourself have unproductive moments with no screens or external entertainment. Let your brain play and go slack. (Weirdly, these are moments where breakthroughs can happen – the “ideas come while showering”phenomenon). You are plenty productive already – it’s okay to let your mind take a back seat drive from time to time. And this doesn’t mean meditating, chanting, praying, or listening to a podcast as a form of productive relaxation either. Just go slack jawed and stare at nothing for 10-15 minutes.
Also, consider the connection you had with friends in your youth, including your 20’s even…
You didn’t sip coffee/beer and share stories of kids and trips, while complaining about work or spouses. Maybe complaints happened and tales were shared – but you bonded through action! Concerts, sporting events, freeze tag, late night diner trips, dancing, putt putt, laughing, just sort of…being. Doing. Talking was part of it, but being together and sharing the moment was more the vibe – rather than getting together to share moments of each other’s lives. Use social media and texts to catch up, share pics, vent…get together to share energy, passion, play, fun – and to make the memories!
Lastly, look to the recent past. What worked for you in the last few months or years. New is sexy and exciting, but momentum is better. Keep on going to trivia night or yoga, or reading instead of watching TV before bed.
No need to reinvent the wheel. Just keep it rolling.
Trim, keep, edit – it doesn’t always have to be a wholesale add/subtract process every January.
New Year, Old You…try it out!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Any new beginning is forged from the shards of the past, not from the abandonment of the past.”
Craig D. Lounsbrough
