With the dropping of the ball over New York City last week, we have officially brought in a brand new year! 2014! I don't know about you guys, but I am a list-maker and a goal-setter, and a new year for me means new motivation to double my efforts at being the person I want to be.
Here's a story about my history in goal-setting:
When I was fifteen, I made a goal not to eat any sweets until I had lost 'x' amount of pounds. I hung up a paper on my wall with the goal written in big black letters, and I told myself I could do it. I told myself the outcome was worth it, because being skinny was what my fifteen-year-old self needed to be happy.
As you can guess, I never reached that amount. Partially because I like sweets too much, and partially because that goal weight was unrealistic and actually not even very healthy for my body type.
Three years later I made a goal to not eat sweets until graduation because I felt like I had been overindulging and had less energy than normal. I was sick of feeling sluggish. I went fifty days without sweets, and instead I substituted fresh fruit to curb my sugar cravings. I started waking up easier in the mornings, having less desire to take naps between school and work, and I got more homework done in less time. After fifty days of eating healthier, my energy was back!
So what's the difference?The second time I made a goal to avoid sweets, I did it without ever stepping on a scale. I didn't know how much I weighed when I started, and I didn't know how much I weighed when I ended. I changed my eating habits so that my body would feel better, and guess what! It did!
It is a media-trained quality in women to feel like we need to lose ten pounds, or we have to be under a certain weight, or we can't eat that cookie for dessert or else our pants will be too tight. Well I am here to beg you to stop listening to that insignificant number blinking up at you from your scale and listen to your body instead. Your body doesn't need a blinking number to feel good. It doesn't need a silly measurement to be healthy. Your body is beautiful no matter what your weight, and you should use those toned or skinny or jiggly arms to throw that scale straight in the trash.
Make goals to eat more vegetables. Make goals to start running again. Make goals to eat a good breakfast every day. Make goals to help you feel healthy. But for 2014, please don't make goals that tell you your worth is based off of your body's relationship with the force of Earth's gravity. Because there is so much more to you than just a silly number.
♥Kylie
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