Was waking up Friday January 1st just another day or were you actually ready to take action in your life? Did you take action or did you post pone until Monday January 4th? Have you actually done whatever you said you were going to do today, or have you put it off again, making January just another month? Also, what’s the rule again on why things have to change on 1/1/whatever year or Mondays?
Here’s the thing, it’s an old rule.
Yes, you should MOST DEFINITELY set an intention or vision for your year, and I’m going to help you do that, but there is absolutely no rule saying that you must start exactly on January 1st, and no one should shame you for actually starting on Monday…Let me ask you this: What do you actually want, and when is the best time for you to start? What’s working that you can continue?
YESyoga’s 2021 Theme is Redirect To Joy, and it’s time to throw some old rules out of the window about the year to come, your life, and whatever else isn’t working for you. It’s time to redirect yourself to joy, and it starts with knowing exactly what you want.
Want to know the easiest way to figure that out? Ask yourself, “YO SELF, WHAT DO I WANT?” or you can use this actual tool below….
Draw a large circle on a piece of paper. On the inside you’ll write everything you want, it can be things, emotions, goals, desires, whatever. On the outside, you’ll write everything you do NOT want. The takeaway: you’ll get really clear about a finite number of things you actually want, and you’ll probably realize there is an infinite amount of things you don’t want.
Then you’ll write down what is working in your life right now and match a few of those things to what you want. This is where you’ll realize there are things you want, but life isn’t working or helping you out. (Insert dramatic music here) It’s time to break the old rules, and create all new guidelines.
Want to read more? Maybe set a new guideline of no social media from 9-9:15pm. I mean seriously, no one said you have to give it up social media altogether or that you have to read for at least 1 hour per day. Do what actually works for you. Want to exercise more? Set a new guideline to start slow and take a walk once per week, or do 10 pushups on the wall 2x per week. Throw out the old rule that you had to start January 1st, because if you missed that deadline you are probably already shaming yourself and thinking you’re never going to change and this year is going to be just a crappy.
OLD RULE: Saying that last year was crappy
NEW GUIDELINE: Have the audacity to have had success last year. Something like “Last year, a lot of things worked and I was successful at (insert those things here). I’m leaving behind what didn’t work.”
OLD RULE: Setting goals and resolutions for 2021, because you want it to be different.
NEW GUIDELINE: Make things different and lean into what is already working. Something like “I will make future decisions that help stay on my path to my vision. I will make decisions that redirect me to joy.”
Let me translate that last one into actual actionable things. If you don’t want to workout, don’t. If you want to eat a cookie, eat it. If you want to be sober for 30 days, do it. If you find yourself scrolling mindlessly through social media then realize it…THIS IS THE MOMENT I’M TALKING ABOUT….. redirect to joy. Go do something else, do something that brings you joy. Working on a project for work and you are super stuck and frustrated and want to throw your phone into a wall…redirect to joy. Take a 10 minute break and go do something else, clear your head. It doesn’t even need to be something crazy, go fold laundry, go walk around your living room, read a chapter in a book.
It’s 2021, the old world and the old rules aren’t needed anymore. Things are different, you are different, and it’s time lean in.
YESyoga OLD RULE: Having a class full of people means we are successful
YESyoga NEW GUIDELINE: We can be successful by impacting one person's life through lifestyle and yoga practices.
