Another Year … Really?!
Happy New Year everyone! I want to start off with a recap and share with you where I'm at … but if you don't want to read that, then scroll down about 1/2 of the way down to read about the only exercise you will need in 2023.
I have been off social media for about a month and haven't blogged for about two months … our Christmas was kind of busy! It has been so lovely having time off and being disconnected … but I have missed everyone! I am so glad to be back and am honestly so not ready for a new year!
Haha! I normally am pretty energized, have goals and feel ready to hit the new year. But I'm not feeling it this year … and that is ok!! In 2018, 2019 and 2020, I started each year with new diets and rules to follow. I think I made it about a week each year with my "new way of eating." If I'm being reeeeally honest, even last year, I was trying to "do better" and not eat as much sugar and eat "healthier" things because I had indulged in a lot of great, yummy Christmas foods.
It's funny, though, this year, I had the PTSD (if you may) of having the "do better" mindset for the new year. I could tell my brain was "scared" that I would have to change my lifestyle or eating habits. But I didn't have to. All I had to do was keep telling myself this January 1st that I was just fine! That I could completely rest. I didn't need to "do better" on Monday, January 2nd. I didn't need to change anything … I just needed my body to trust me and know that I wasn't hating it or going to put it through something severe or strict resolutions as I have done for so many years past.
I am glad I don't have much for this year. Emotionally I have had to process last year, which has taken a lot of my emotions that I normally have for starting a new year and have used them for dealing with last year. A lot happened. I went through a lot, learned a lot and lived a lot. Last year was hard and good. I am thankful for last year, and even though I don't have much for this year, I'm grateful we are in another year!
I feel like now I can really put 2022 behind me and start afresh … not start over … but start afresh. There's a big difference between those two things. Starting afresh means we can keep going without looking back but learning from the past. Starting over means you are unworthy of continuing on because of the things done in the past. Starting afresh is such a blessing. I'm thankful God gives us new years; it's a special time. He closes the chapter on the year before and gives us a fresh, clean start to another year. And I feel like even though I don't feel it all the time, He always shows up and gives me what I need for another year.
I have some personal goals and am excited to have this new-ish website to write on. Lord willing, I will write more frequently and I am excited about that! Writing is therapy for me! So with that being said, I would LOVE to hear from you! If you have any topics you are interested in reading from me, anything you're interested in me sharing or just anything … shoot me a quick email at everlastingrecovery@gmail.com! It would help me a lot, so I can know what you might be interested in seeing more of on this website!
Before I go, if you are on the road to recovery, I want to encourage you wherever you're at with the only exercise you will need in 2023. It doesn't matter if you are in the early beginnings of recovery or if you are trying to decide if it's worth recovering or if you don't believe recovery is possible. Maybe you have been living under some severe new year's resolutions since January 1st. Perhaps you have already blown your new year's resolutions. Or maybe you are in utter despair because the clock striking 12 and turning to 2023 was not enough to keep you from making the same old habits of 2022.
No matter where you're at, what you struggle with or don't struggle with ... this exercise is for you. So here it is. What I want you to do … I want you to forget how you feel at this very moment. Pretend you just hit the "delete" button on your feelings and have deleted all of them. Now, you have absolutely no feelings at this current moment … so listen to me very carefully. Take a deep breath … breathe in … breathe out. Now listen to me even more carefully. You are enough … right now. You are going to be ok. You will recover one day. You are worthy of recovering. You are not alone. You are worthy of not having to live by such ridiculously strict new year's resolutions. You are beautiful. You are a masterpiece. You are perfect … just as you are. Your Creator loves you. And you will recover.
Now … the feelings you feel right now after reading that … that is what you need to go by starting right now.
Anytime you start getting overwhelmed by life, your struggles, your circumstances or your recovery … at any time you start feeling overwhelmed … do this exercise. "Delete" your feelings and read those statements because that is the truth. Those statements are true; no matter how you feel, you cannot change those facts. Just because you don't feel good doesn't mean 2 + 2 = 7. No. 2 + 2 = 4, no matter how you feel. The same goes for those statements up there. You are good enough right now, no matter how you are feeling.
Please remember that this year. I wanted to share that with you because starting a new year was always so overwhelming for me, and some of my darkest battles and struggles happened at the beginning of the year.
It just isn't worth it; you starting another year trying to live under the guilt of not being good enough or having to "do better." You start this year telling yourself the truth and live in the freedom that comes from that because you're worth it. Don't waste one more second of 2023 with those lies. Breathe the fresh air and live! Life is just too short!!
So … you are enough! You are loved and you are going to be just fine this year! No matter how hard the fights may be in the coming year, it will be worth fighting because one day you will look back and be grateful that you didn’t quit and that you kept fighting. I hope you all have a wonderful start to the beautiful gift of another year.
I look forward to hearing from you in the comments below! Happy New Year everyone!!
~ Natalie