My concious effort to subconciously make good decisions.

MERRY (BELATED) HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

I hope that y'all had an amazing Christmas.  I know I sure did. Thanks to my co-workers, I was able to get enough days off so that I could fly home. It's true what they say, "There's no place like home for the holidays."

I love Christmas, but everyone knows that by 7pm on Christmas day, almost all of the "magic" is gone. The fancy dinner has been eaten, Santa already stopped by, and there are no presents left under the Christmas Tree. It's just kind of... done.

BUT THEN... a couple of days (7 days to be exact) later we are lucky enough to have another holiday. 

New Years! 

We throw away our old calendars and put out the shiny new ones (Are calendars shiny?) We start training ourselves to write on 2015 on all of our papers (even though you really won't start writing 2015 until at least July of this upcoming year.) People see this as a fresh start. This is when you start to hear about those dreaded "New Years Resolutions."

WHY? Why are they so dreaded? Last year I told someone about my resolutions and they said, "Oh.. wow. So you're one of those people... You make resolutions that won't even try to keep." Wow. Okay. First of all, thanks jerk. Yes. I AM one of those people. I'm one of those people trying to make an effort to improve myself. Second of all, why can't I keep them? 

Then I realized that to an extent... my friend was right. I always feel already improved just by sitting down and making resolutions. Like, wow. It's January 1st and I already have been productive and made a list. But.... It's true, I have no intentions on keeping them.

Example: "I want to stop drinking soda." Mmhm. Well I'm addicted to Diet Coke like a crack head is addicted to... crack. So, I lost that battle before it even started.

Well, I made the executive decision that 2015 is going to be MY year. I'm starting school again, I'm finally getting the hang of being a manager at work, and I am just all around starting to feel more confident. But how.. how do I ensure that it will be MY year? Like I said, most of my "goals" and "resolutions" feel unachievable.

So.. I went out and bought a book about self-improvement. It's kind of weird, but whatever.

It talks about being in a slump, and how being in a "slump" doesn't mean that you're selling your body on the street for money for meth, it means just not being 100% with where your life is at this very moment. 

"Ew, my thighs are fat."

"I hate my job."

"Why won't anyone love me?"

These are all thoughts that could qualify someone as being in a slump. And guess what I have realized? You don't have to BE in a slump. You can get out!

It's this concept of the conscious and the subconscious. You see.. we have our conscious. It's those "resolutions" we make every year; it's those ideas we have about what we want. But then you have the subconscious. It's completely different. This is what we believe, deep down. The two are almost never the same.... UNTIL you make them the same.

For instance...

Conscious- Yes. I want to lose weight this year, maybe I'll join a gym.

Subconscious- I'm not actually going to the gym because everyone at the gym is already ripped and looking super fly, so I'll just look dumb.

Result- I'm going to put nacho cheese on my Flamin' Hot Cheetos. 

NO. You see, that's the problem. We fool ourselves by making these goals and resolutions that we start off not believing we will do.  We really are our own worst enemies. 

HOW DO WE FIX THIS?

YOU are Beyonce. Be confident.

I'm a firm believer in the idea that we can achieve anything we put our minds too. 

"Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it's at the end of your arm." -Audrey Hepburn

Pop Quiz: Who is going to help you with these goals and resolutions?

Answer: You. You are the only one that can truly help you. Have a little self confidence. You can do it!

Go out there, make some goals. Take more time truly thinking about these goals that you are making. 

1) Write down 3 "resolutions" or "goals." 

2) Draw a line and underneath that line write down what's keeping you from achieving that goal. (Let's be real, there is always something. If there wasn't something keeping you from your goal, you would have already achieved it.)

3) Draw one last line underneath the reasons you just wrote down. Now write down how you're going to fix those. And THAT is what your resolutions should be. Not the things that you want, but fixing the things that keep you from getting what you want.

To end my little rant... here's a quote from the author of that book I was talking about earlier:

“You are perfect. To think anything less is as pointless as a river thinking that it’s got too many curves or that it moves too slowly or that its rapids are too rapid. Says who? You’re on a journey with no defined beginning, middle or end. There are no wrong twists and turns. There is just being. And your job is to be as you as you can be. This is why you’re here. To shy away from who you truly are would leave the world you-less. You are the only you there is and ever will be. I repeat, you are the only you there is and ever will be. Do not deny the world its one and only chance to bask in your brilliance.” -Jen Sincero

Don't be afraid to make some resolutions, I know I'm not. Kick 2015's butt.