With the New Year comes New Year’s resolutions and this year I decided my resolution was to become “that girl,” within reason of course.
For those who haven’t heard, who is “that girl”?
“That girl” is the girl who has her life completely tied together with a bow on top. She is the girl who wakes up by 7:00 AM every day. The girl who works out, drinks greens smoothies, makes acai bowls filled with granola and hemp seeds. She takes care of her mental health, carrying around a journal to contain her thoughts and meditates in the morning to start her day. She is the true essence of a well-balanced life.
Except, I have a major problem with her. As perfect as she may seem, she is in no sense realistic. The concept in itself often ends up leaving hopeful women like myself in a state of perpetual disappointment due to its high expectations and strict regime in nature.
I’ll be the first to admit it is an incredibly hard list of tasks to accomplish. While I set my alarm for 6:50 AM, and then another at 6:55 AM, and yet again at 7:00 AM, my body never fails to pull me back down into my bed as I groggily try to make my way out. And while meditating and journaling are amazing to one’s mental health, with busy schedules filled with classes, clubs and events, I can hardly find time to do it, let alone do it every day. And even if I set up an intensive skincare routine, there are factors out of my control that will still cause acne and make me feel like I’ve done a horrible job at accomplishing my goals.
It’s for these reasons that as I strive to be that girl, I also want to be the furthest thing from her. The lifestyle reflects healthy habits but it’s not healthy to hold oneself to this gold standard 24/7. Life happens, and it often cannot keep up with this strictly crafted lifestyle.
So as I begin my journey to become “that girl,” the girl in question that I wish to become will be a modified version, a realistic version. My goal and what I ultimately get out of this is to form healthier habits. It is not about doing every single “that girl” task every day, but it is more about building up each habit until it becomes like clockwork in my daily routine.
In order to track these things, I invested in a daily habit tracker, which will help keep track of what I do each day and how often I complete that habit. It will not be 100% completed the first week and who knows if it will be 100% completed by week 52? Frankly, it is beyond my concern as long as at least one habit has become something I do daily.
So, I invite anyone who is looking to change or make improvements in their lifestyle to join me. Not in some kind of cult following kind of way, there is no real commitment to this challenge, but in an effort to improve without the pressure that comes associated with it. We will be waking up at 7 AM, most days. We will work out three to four times a week, or at least just get our bodies moving somehow. We will be eating healthy, about 80% of the time. And we will journal when we want to, during the times where we feel extra creative or inspired.
Growth is not something that is one-dimensional nor is it by any means linear. You will have off days and that is perfectly normal! We are so often trained that in order to be successful, we have to be productive and efficiently utilize our time all the time. It is time to block out this toxic mindset and adapt to a new and much more forgiving one. 2022 will be the year of growth and I am fully confident that we all will be able to make positive improvements in our own lives over the course of these 12 months. So good luck on your own journey and remember to treat yourself with care!