4 minute read
TAMMY’S TIDBITS ‘
THAT’S A WRAP
BY TAMMY VREELAND
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Soon it will be the end of the year. Appropriate I suppose, after wrapping all our presents, it will be a time to wrap up the year as well.
But instead of thinking of it as being an ending - like ‘wrapping up the year’, maybe we could think of it as a present too? A present we can open up during the next new year!
Too often, this time of year, we find ourselves making new resolutions. Guilting ourselves into changing whatever we may not like about ourselves.
It can be hard right after the holidays, where we may come crashing down after a high of interaction and celebration. Where perhaps we may dread the new year, so we feel we have to punish ourselves to get through it.
Which, in turn, makes us dread it even more! I think, this time, maybe we should focus on what we actually liked about ourselves this last year. What were the highlights this last year you enjoyed the most?
Was it a different place you went to? A new food you tried? An interaction with friends, family or loved ones? Maybe you tried a new hobby or thought about one.
Yes, January can be a cold, boring month but it doesn’t have to be! It doesn’t have to be all about diet, exercise and just making it through.
We always end the year with a celebration, but in reality, New Year’s Eve is supposed to be about a celebration of the new year coming up! So, what better way to celebrate the new year by wrapping up all the good memories of 2021 and taking them with us? Unwrapping them when we may need help to get through this next year! Or better yet, enhancing our new year’s experiences!
How can we do that? Take a good memory from this last year and expand on it. Focus only on the good! Remember that moment of pure joy. True, some of those moments may have been spontaneous.
In fact, planning may even take the joy away. That’s something we don’t want to happen! Then how are you supposed to re-create it? You don’t. You simply take the idea of what made that moment so special and create a new moment.
The present we are trying to give ourselves is the gift of confidence. The gift of positive thinking. When you find yourself reminiscing about a time that was amazing, does it not give you the gift of feeling good?
When our minds feel good, when it is thinking happy thoughts, does that not put you in the mood to do more happy things? Which in turn gets us in the mood to be active. To want to do things.
This year, no negative resolutions! I’m not saying you shouldn’t have goals. I just think maybe we could re-package those goals into things we may actually look forward to! healthier. But even just typing that sentence brings on a feeling of dread for me! So why would I want to start my new year feeling like that?
Of course, I need to lose weight. Of course, I need to concentrate on being healthy, but how can I do that if I am dreading it? Think back to one of your happier moments this last year.
What were you doing? I guarantee you, you were actively doing something. Even if it was just hanging out with friends, at that moment were you thinking about your weight? More than likely, the furthest thing from your mind! This is what we need to tap into!
Let’s take those precious happy moments from this year and wrap ourselves in them for next year. I wonder if our National Holidays have anything we can wrap ourselves up in?
January 3rd - National Chocolate-Covered Cherries Day – Definitely not on our diet, but they are “covered”! Why not indulge? I won’t tell anyone, I promise!
January 6th - National Cuddle Up Day – This is one we all can enjoy! Some of the most precious moments are cuddling up! Whether it be with your partner, your children, grandchildren or your precious fur baby. Cuddling is simply good for the soul!
January 15th - National Hat Day – Beginning to get cold out there! Why not have fun wearing a new hat covering our heads?
Day – This one is a stretch, I know. But then again, is it? Just visualize cheese covering something, anything! Can’t say that doesn’t put you in a happy mood!
January 21st - National Hugging Day – I sense a theme here. They must have enjoyed cuddling so much they wanted another day to hug? Fine by me! I think we all have missed those hugs we used to give so freely. Maybe we will be able to go back to enjoying them once again.
Start this New Year on a positive note. Be kind to yourself and others. When you focus on previous positive moments, it allows you to tackle what may have always been a daunting task, become nothing but a new experience.
Life is hard, no doubt there, but wrap yourself up. You are the greatest gift! When you realize that, then you can share with others your gifts, your talent, the joy you have inside you.
Because remember all those beautiful wonderful memories you like to think about? You were there; you were a part of it, and you can do it again!
Happy New Year everyone!
