“Three, two, one… Happy New Year!”

Six words to a new year. How do you feel during that moment? Excited? Relieved? Nervous? It’s amazing the responses I have heard over the years: relief, fear, anxious, excited, and overwhelmed. And when do resolutions come into play? Anxiety builds when the new year approaches. The need to make them. The pressure to follow them. The importance not to break them. But why is that exactly?

Do you find yourself eating as much of that chocolate chip batter you can before midnight? Or sleep as long as you can before you start hitting the gym January 1st? What if you find goals that are within your own comfort that can propel you forward with enthusiasm, rather than force met by guilt, and should vs will? Is it common to feel ill at ease not knowing how to achieve your goals? Yes. But you know what? It’s ok to stop for a moment, and know that ‘not knowing’ is AOK too.

As a forty eight year old teen, I have learned that when I say maybe, it likely means, I won’t, and when I say I can’t, it may be my excuse toward my not feeling ready, that I may be afraid, or just plain don’t know. In other words, when I use excuses, I mean “No!”

So when New Year comes around, instead of the “pressure” of that “perfect plan” or butterflies that flutter as the numbers count down to zero, get ahead of it. Take charge of your own boundaries and abilities by making one small goal at a time, which can transform into much larger results. It’s like the old saying, Don’t bite off more than you can chew. If you take a goal you have in mind for the upcoming year, be kind to yourself, follow your own realistic expectations. Look at what may be feasible to get ahead of a goal, to surpass the “if’s” or the “should’s” to pass go and attain that goal!

But look where I am and where I should be? I mean, if I look at my friends they are at A, B and C! Isn’t that where I should be?

This is a question we all have asked ourselves at different ages and phases in our lives, especially in a society where connectivity and image is rampant due to technology and social media. But by seeing what everyone’s world may look like, it’s important to know that the picture of your own life, in your own vision, is the most valuable one to create, illustrate, snap and manifest. #nofilter.

Remember, what someone else is doing, or how someone may look or “seem” does not reflect how or where you are on your own path. 

Tips & How To’s Toward a New Year of Fun & Funnies!

• Eat, sing, dance, laugh and enjoy in every moment until the clock strikes midnight and after! Then do the same exact thing the next night. And the following month. Remember celebrating the end of the year and bringing in the new, can be something celebrated everyday as we are in constant movement and change moment to moment!
• If you are older than 30 and forcing your eyes to say open before midnight? Go to bed! The next morning, you’ll still be able to enjoy the new year, the new morning, with a yawn, a stretch and a coffee to toast with!
• Set realistic goals, not ones you will feel bogged down by or guilty if you become less committed by mid January. Excuses are just like a filler of empty calories soaking up energy and taking up pro-active space. The more excuses the heavier the weight. So, do yourself a favor and release the weight before it comes on. Say “no” if something doesn’t seem right to you, and be kind to yourself in what you are able to do within your own abilities and or limitations.

Happy Holidays and New Year to all, and remember the number one way to always stay young year after year? To LAUGH.

A resolution that can be met by all.

About the Author: Susanna SPIES is one of Your Monthly Mentors, a seasoned educator and Founder and President of Comedy Playground, LLC, showcasing at The Hollywood Improv located in California. With a performance background, Spies has worked within mediums of television and film, and has performed stand up comedy on stages throughout the nation. Known for her many “faces”, in 2013 she debuted over 30 characters in her one-woman show “The Dryer” and was featured on Nuvo TV’s Stand & Deliver, E-One Entertainment’s Uncontrolled Comedy, and the Youtube sensation “Carol” of “Carol & Claire in The Angela Hoover web series, as well as dozens of national commercials, and Independent Feature Films. Read More… 

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