HAPPY NEW YEAR, HCBU! I was so excited to write this article that I began brainstorming resolutions long before the start of the New Year. I first came up with resolutions that might benefit your fifth-grade self, like using less technology, sleeping at reasonable hours, and planning more “playdates.” I thought it was an original concept; in fact, I was done with the draft a few days before classes started. However, I erased the article after reading an empowering blog post on January 15, 2013. Daily Free Press writer Sanah Faroke reflects about her own New Year’s resolution on the blog: “I want to be able to see life through different, positive lenses and do things that I know will make me genuinely happy regardless of what people think, how much money I will make, or for fear that I will fail at it.”
I strongly believe that we (young women as well as individuals that identify as women) feel obligated to please every person beside our individual selves. But, why should our happiness depend on another’s opinion of ourselves? With each New Year we are immediately bombarded with TV commercials pressuring women to “lose belly fat fast” with Xenodrine, or “begin living” by signing up for Weight Watchers. In other words, companies tell us that our lives will be better if we simply take a pill (the one mentioned above is not evaluated by the FDA, by the way), or drastically change our eating and exercise regimen. These messages are rather insulting to our true potential. I demand that we recognize the dangers of believing our lives would be better if we fit into the “ideal” body. We deserve to make informed decisions that stem from our deepest desire to be HAPPY with the INSIDE before struggling to change the OUTSIDE. (That’s why it is called ‘happy’ New Year, rather than ‘unhappy’ or ‘miserable’!)
Luckily, there are many alternate, safe and realistic resolutions in a list provided below from Jaclyn Friedman’s book “What You Really Really Want”:
- Set aside ten minutes each day to write in a journal or meditate.
- Take nature walks to boost your mood. If nature isn’t your thing, pick a place in which you can focus on YOU for thirty minutes a day.
- Practice embracing yourself with this exercise: “Stick a photograph of yourself (one you like) in your journal. Write the woman in the photograph a love letter. List all the things she does well or that you like about her.”
And here is a separate list created by yours truly to guide you to a year of HAPPINESS (without breaking the bank!):
- Indulge in your true passions as much as possible.
- Make a BU Bucket List. This list will consist of places to visit, things to experience, and goals set specifically for maximizing your time in Boston. (Anyone up for visiting the Prudential Center’s Skywalk Observatory?)
- Master a new language by visiting the Howard Thurman Center (my floor-mate keeps telling me I’d be great at Chinese), master a recipe from your favorite cookbook, or simply engage in volunteerism/community-building.
Hopefully you are inspired to make 2013 all about the year of happiness! Feel free to share your personal New Year’s missions in the comment section, or on twitter (@HerCampusBU and my personal twitter @LOV3yourself).
Sources:
http://freepblog.wordpress.com…
http://www.bu.edu/thurman/prog…
http://www.prudentialcenter.co…