Congratulations on reaching 2024! Regardless of what happened in 2023, one undeniable truth remains: a new year is upon us. But are we ready? Often, we rush into the new year without addressing the guilt and mistakes of the past.
At Embrace You, we believe 2024 holds the potential for your best year ever, allowing you to live lighter in body, mind, and spirit. Achieving Your Best Year won’t come from lofty New Year’s resolutions but rather by embracing your current self and initiating a mindset reset for 2024.
Regardless of your weight or wellness aspirations, whether it’s getting more fit, losing weight, or eating healthier, making a fresh start becomes challenging with lingering thoughts and emotions.
This process begins by acknowledging any body, mind, or spirit regrets from 2023. Before you dismiss this as another “New Year Quick Fix,” understand that “releasing regrets” can be as straightforward or complex as you choose.
I wrote this blog as an earnest plea because each year, I witness not only strangers but also loved ones falling into the disappointing cycle of rapid New Year resolutions. People start with great enthusiasm, only to fizzle out before January concludes. I’m not being pessimistic; I simply desire better for you. Drawing from both professional and personal experience, I, as a leading integrative obesity physician and wellness expert, “walk the talk” in my own life.
For over 8 years I’ve been on my own Embrace You Weight & Wellness Journey, while the scale hasn’t stayed perfectly the same-I have consistently stayed committed to my body, mind, spirit wellness from transforming my relationship to food (I like kimchi y’all 😝); running over 6000 miles, most recently a half marathon in November 2023; and prioritizing my faith ( over 450 days in YouVersion app; founding and co leading a church small group for busy women X 3 years).
Now, let’s delve into the 4 steps to release regrets, facilitating a mindset reset and a fresh start in 2024. Estimated time: 10 minutes 😉 (may vary based on your needs).
1️⃣ Review:
Before hastily creating a new list for 2024, take the time to review your resolutions from 2023. You might feel guilt or defeat seeing unaccomplished goals, but view it as “data, not judgment.” What's happened has happened. The best next step is to learn from your experience. That brings us to step 2.
2️⃣ Reflect:
Now that you’ve reviewed your list. Let’s take a few moments to reflect on: -What worked well? What didn’t work? Why? Be specific. Did you force yourself into activities you detest? For example: Did you try to force yourself to cook and you detest cooking? Did you force yourself to do exercise you don’t enjoy? Go from one extreme to another: no exercise to exercising daily or eating sugar every day to restriction of sugar intake. Reflecting on these extremes helps you understand your journey.
3️⃣ Release:
Let go of regrets. Regrets often result from unreasonable expectations set by perfectionism. It’s a crucial step towards a positive change.
4️⃣ Reset:
Embrace a new mindset as you set your goals for the year, specifically connecting with a new relationship with food, fitness, and your body. For example, release the notion of going on a diet and embrace food as fuel. Aim to nourish your body like a luxury vehicle with premium fuel instead of putting in crud. For fitness: release punishing your body with exercise, and embrace movement that you enjoy. You were made to move. Think about a kid freely running around playing. You may not run like you used to but what movement sparks that joy inside of you like a kid again? Lastly and most importantly please release being unkind to yourself. Your body is your one and only body. It’s time to stop fighting against your body and collaborating with it. That starts with not trying to create a positive change with harsh, negative words. Even if you aren’t ready to say “I love you” to your body you can start by saying to your body “I accept you, let’s work together this year.” That opens the door to understanding. There is a lot of new science about how the body works. Specifically, we now know that what drives the body to store fat is more than “calories in vs calories out.” You may be blaming & shaming your body for natural or uncontrollable changes.
Over the next month, we’ll be sharing Embrace You Blog posts to help you cultivate consistency and make 2024 your best year in weight and wellness.
Congratulations on taking the first step by choosing to Release Regrets and Embrace Mindset Reset. In the next blog post, we’ll share how to transform your desires into successful SMARTER goals.
Till next time, choose to embrace your life lighter in body, mind, & spirit.
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