How to finish the year feeling good about yourself!

12/17/2019

Do you base a lot of your self-worth on how you look? Focus the rest of the year on building skills and celebrating what you're good at instead!

Pink and orange fireworks on New Year's Eve

Do you also think it's hard to get/stay in shape in December?

What with all the Christmas goodies being constantly available, it's so much harder than the rest of the year. It doesn't help that some of my favorite traditions are tied to food! Like making and decorating gingerbread houses (and eating a lot of the dough, naturally) or baking cookies while watching The Santa Clause (checked that off my Christmas bucket list last night!).

So instead of feeling constantly bad about myself and/or my decisions, I decided to just enjoy it and focus on other things this month.

1. Do 25 body squats before getting dressed in the morning
2. Practice Spanish at least 10 minutes every day on Duolingo

#1 might seem very little -- it hardly makes up for the extra calories I eat. BUT it's 175 squats more a week and 700 more a month than if I did none! It makes me start the day on a positive healthy note.

Now, #2 might seem out of place. But it's a positive habit that makes me feel good and proud of myself, and it gives me self-worth that's not tied to my body. Plus I'm quickly re-learning a language I was once conversational in!

Sometimes we put too much of our worth into how we look (I definitely do). But what about everything else we are?

What about the skills we have, the languages we speak, the good deeds we do, the healthy habits we maintain, or the physical things we're able to do, no matter what our bodies may look like?

Take some time today and think about what small positive thing you can do every day the rest of the month to start 2020 feeling great about yourself. Plus, you might get a head start on a New Year's Resolution! :D

Some ideas: