I hate the word, “resolution.” I don’t even know what the real definition of it is, but whenever I hear it I immediately think:

 

Broken Promise.

 

Well-intentioned, but not quite.

 

That gym membership from last year we keep meaning to cancel.

 

Nevertheless, we make them.  We call them goals, plans, whatever, but at the end of the day – or should I say, at the beginning of the year – they’re resolutions.  And it’s not a bad thing, as long as it’s not the thing that you stop doing or working toward in February when those hateful Girl Scouts start selling their delicious cookies.  Those cute little toothless monsters know where to find me every year, and they know that I’ll shell out big bucks for my year’s supply (that I polish off by April).  My favorites are the ones who curl their hair, bring their sweet smiling parents and stand outside the grocery store with their big brown eyes, their hand made posters, and convince me to buy 25,000 calories worth of that crack they sell, when all I was doing was going to the store for kale.

 

But there’s one resolution, promise, goal…I think every woman should be making – and keeping – this year.

 

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

 

Self-care is a coined phrase floating around lately, but all good and positive results come from doing this little thing called taking care of yourself, and I don’t just mean physically.

 

I’m reading this book called, Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist, and these words literally jumped off the page at me:

 

“The best thing I can offer to this world is…a well-tended spirit, a wise and brave soul.” 

 

“….a well-tended spirit…”

 

What are you doing to take care of yourself so you can be someone you love? Someone YOU love; not someone you think you should be because that’s what Pinterest says, or Martha Stewart says, or those ladies in those cool-sculpting commercials say.  What goals do you need to set in order to be someone YOU can be proud of?

 

This doesn’t have to be something hard or lofty or unattainable (which, in my opinion, is the TRUE definition of “resolution”).  It can be as simple as an affirmation that you repeat to yourself, or finding something that you like about yourself every day and keeping it in a journal.

 

How are you ‘tending to your spirit’ so that you can be a better wife, mother, friend? It’s a tough one to think about, I think because we’re afraid of what we might find.  But what if we’re actually missing out on the GOOD things that have been there all along? What if, when we spend a little time with ourselves, loving on ourselves and asking ourselves the right questions instead of criticizing, feeling guilty and blaming ourselves, we find out that we have some amazing, powerful qualities that we didn’t know were there, or that we were misusing and interpreting as weakness?

 

Whoah.

 

January is a time of fresh starts, resets and expectancy for the coming year, and I’m so excited to spend the next few weeks talking about some practical ways to care for yourself and lift your spirits so you can learn to LOVE who you are and offer the best thing you can to your family, to the world around you!  Make sure you subscribe to my updates – or “love letters” – so you get each tip!

 

…and just in case you were thinking of reaching out to sell me Girl Scout cookies, I already have a dealer. Her name is Phoebe.

 

I also don’t eat kale.