Well, that’s interesting. My wrestling match with with the Big Bad Meh has turned into an actual ALLERGY to all the “New Year, New You” stuff floating around. Started with a mild intolerance for “resolutions” (can’t stand the word tbh) and has ended up with an absolute loathing for all the “Fresh Start! Get thinner! Work harder! High Performance! Inner Fire! Audacious, high performance-based goals!” (Perhaps am just subscribing to the wrong emails?…)
It’s just all so…OTT. So – dare I say it ….AMERICAN.
Maybe I’ve just been here in the UK long enough to see it. But I really, truly, deeply do NOT want any of those things. In fact, I declare for myself that this is the year of the ANTI-RESOLUTION.
I will NOT get thinner. I will NOT work harder. I will NOT light my inner fire, whatever that is. (Sounds risky.)
Instead – what?
We need something for January. It’s the inevitable need generated by all the Christmas misbehaving – people turn up in Jan feeling a bit sick and party-weary, and looking for a way back.
And so that’s what I’m thinking this year – TAKE BACK YOUR GUT HEALTH.
Take it back. Because it’s yours. You’re entitled to it. You deserve it. You had it, once upon a time. And then it got trampled by time and chemicals and sugar and stress – and whom among us is not subject to these things?
But the answer – and I do FIRMLY believe this – is a lot gentler than all the shiny, flashy, NEW YEAR NEW YOU adverts. What if you didn’t need a NEW YOU? What if the old you was quite lovely enough, thanks very much, and just in need of a bit of gentle nurturing? A make-and-mend, a warm press and a few buttons stitched back on?
How about gently supporting yourself? How about some loving kindness? How about – wait for it – if you turned just a fraction of all that wonderful loving care that you direct to everyone else in your life – on yourself?
What would that feel like?
You probably have no idea.
I’m guessing that this is because you are at the very bottom of your own list. Not just for Christmas – but for the rest of the year as well. Am I close?
But here’s the thing – you know how, on the airplane, they tell you to put on your mask first, and then your child’s mask? That’s because if you get knocked out of action, you won’t be of any use to all the people you love.
You need to take care of yourself, so that you can go on doing the invaluable work that you do in the world.
And a great way to do this, is to take back your gut health. It will improve your mood, give you more energy, make you feel more capable of doing all the thousand-and-one things that I know you are doing, to make the world a better place.
You don’t need to become a NEW YOU. You just need to take some loving care of the you that you already are!
(If that makes sense.)
And we’re here to help.
If you’re ready to move yourself onto the list of people who deserve some nurturing this year, get in touch! My lovely team of Nutritional Therapists are standing by to give personalised advice for free, 8 am to 8 pm weekdays on live chat.
Big hugs,
from the same old
Shann.x
Shann Jones MBE
Founder/Director Chuckling Goat