Just be yourself!

By Mercy AL

Hello everyone! This is Mercy from EnglishSmart writing for the very first time. I’m not that used to sharing my thoughts with anyone but myself, but well here we are. I hope you all enjoy this little reading, so here we go.

I feel like this is like writing a little journal or a piece of your thoughts, you can write about anything and people may laugh, have fun, get angry or just get bored and leave the reading, but hey, if you have passed these first lines, I guess I have your attention. I want to talk to you about this new year. Please don’t think this is another reading about how positive I need to be about my life or maybe that I must reach new goals for this year. I mean it’s kind of about that, but I want to share my perspective with you about our New Year’s Resolutions.

I guess that at the beginning of each new year you could be the kind of person, who while eating the grapes (that’s our tradition in Mexico) is thinking about all your goals, or you’re drawing a blank at the moment because you don’t know what to do with your life or you might even be the type of person who is already getting worried about how you are going to manage accomplishing all those resolutions or goals. So for me it doesn’t matter what you thought at that moment, for me it matters what you’re actually going to do to change your life.

Your life won’t change magically with the change of the year or even as a result of your personal beliefs. I don’t mean to offend anyone here, but for me it’s all about you! If you want a different life, go and live it, do experiments, try stuff that you have never done before, try all the things that you had failed in the past again, you don’t need to have big goals, but start with small goals. It’s also key to remember to please never compare yourself with another person. You’re unique, beautiful and special. We all have our flaws and our own battles and we can survive through anything.

So here are my tips for you if you want to make a 180º turn in your life:

  1. Don’t worry from the beginning, you have plenty of time and more important you’re on time.
  2. Don’t compare yourself with other people! If you’re here, you’re ready and you have enough motivation that’s more than enough to start your own change. Just remember it’s not magic, every new habit comes with time, effort and yes, sometimes a little bit of tears and blood. For example, if you want to spend more time with your family, organise your priorities and give yourself some free time to spend with them.
  3. Give yourself self-love, as I said before you are important. If you don’t care about your body and mental health no one is going to do it for you, so schedule some time everyday just for you. Let your emotions be, do a beauty routine, sleep, read, jump, do exercise, take time to cook your own food, learn a new language, paint, sing, dance, yell, go for a coffee, watch a movie, I don’t know! But think about what makes you happy so you can leave all your worries behind, even for a couple of minutes every single day.
  4. Choose your goals wisely, anything can be accomplished just be real with your goals and think about yourself while you work on them. Sometimes we create goals, but we don’t accomplish them because they aren’t our dreams, they are the dreams of another person, so forget about that and think about what you want! A good example could be related to exercise, so think about why you want to do it. Is it because our society says that you’re not good enough or is it because you want to be healthier? If it’s the second one you’re on the right path, but if it’s the first one, then maybe you shouldn’t give a damn about that, if you like your body the way it is then what’s the matter with that? Just love it and never let anyone make you think that you’re not good enough. If you don’t like your body that’s okay too, just remember this phrase “trabaja por el cuerpo que quieres, mientras amas el que tienes” @jousfit. I think that it’s a good phrase and example for this and I also like her philosophy.
  5. Be patient, all changes come with time.
  6. Be your own change, if you want to change your life, get out of your comfort zone.
  7. Live and enjoy your life, remember that you only get one, so be happy, be afraid, do good, make mistakes over and over again, but live and enjoy every single step.

And just one extra thing that nobody asked about but I enjoy doing, you can create an inspiration board. An inspiration board is made up of all the stuff that makes you happy, all your dreams and more importantly, it reminds you why you’re here. Thanks for reading and sticking to the end, I hope this helps you and that you liked it, and if not, well, at least you got to practice your English skills! Ha ha!

Love you all!