Forget “new year, new me” anytime is a great time to take the initiative and turn your life around for it to be more beneficial for yourself. When it comes to living your life, the best thing to do is live for yourself, and just like the sayings “March to the beat of your own drum.” and “Write your own story.”, take those literally. If you want to live a whole life, do things that make you happy and take the time to satisfy your wants and needs. There is nothing wrong with putting yourself first and making self-care an intricate part of your day-to-day life. Be strict with how much time and energy you devote to others and yourself. With summer coming to an end, this is an excellent time to become more aware of and accountable for yourself.
When starting this journey/process, begin with figuring out what these words mean to you and how you can use them to your benefit: self-awareness, accountability, and good habits. When it comes to having a high awareness of who you are, holding yourself accountable, and possessing good practices, the best thing to remember is that all these things will be for YOU, are helping YOU, and are things to make YOU feel good. With the world going a mile a minute, it can get chaotic. As individuals, we get so involved in other responsibilities and people that we forget about our physical and mental well-being. Trust me, it is great to look out for others and do good deeds for your community, but the priority should be looking out for you at the top of the list. These three principles come full circle regarding self-care; these are just different forms. Taking care of yourself leaves you with a healthier mindset; putting the time and effort in for yourself does not take away from the time and effort you put into others. Put you first; people will understand. Get yourself together, and know what you what, how you feel, dislikes and likes. Be your number one fan because you will always have yourself.
Here are a few tips to get you started on this road of self-redemption.
Self-awareness: Learn who you are; pay attention to your mood swings; discover how things make you feel and react; be overly mindful and in tune with your being. When you become self-aware, you learn how to navigate situations better and avoid things that could stress, agitate or annoy you. Self-awareness puts you in a place of peace because if you are 100 percent sure of who you are and what you stand for, you become more confident in yourself and what you put into the world.
Accountability: Hold yourself accountable. Keep yourself in check, give yourself rules, and stick to them. Be dedicated to yourself, your mind, and your body, whether trying to lose weight or studying for a certain amount of hours. Give yourself long-term or short-term goals; it doesn’t matter if you keep your word to yourself. When you do successfully activate self-accountability, reward yourself. Find a friend or someone you trust that can act as the angle on your shoulder through this process because having someone there for you reminds you that you are not alone, even when it seems like no one has your back. Having someone in your corner keeps you motivated and on track with your goals is always good.
Good Habits: It’s never too late to start reversing bad habits for good ones. When you start taking care of yourself, make it an obligation to do things that will be more beneficial to you and what you are trying to do. Create to-do lists, calendars, and reminders, and reset them daily or weekly. Put yourself on a schedule.
You got this. You can do it. Be proud of the progression because you are better now than when you started.