My response to the new year, new you pressure

Pressing Pause ep 136 My response to the new year, new you pressure

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Welcome to Pressing Pause, I’m your host, Gabrielle Treanor, a coach, writer, introvert and sensitive soul with an inclination to ponder over the stuff of life. Join me as I explore how we can create, find and feel more calm, ease and joy in our daily lives.

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Before we get into the episode I wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who pre-ordered The 1% Wellness Experiment and who has bought it since it was published in December, thank you to everyone who came to my little book launch party on Zoom, thank you to everyone who has messaged me about it, who has shared photos of their copy of the book on social media, it gives me such a thrill to see, and who has written a review on Amazon! You don’t have to have bought the book from Amazon to leave a review and I know there are plenty of people who intentionally don’t shop there and who are supporting their local, independent bookshop which I love, but if you would like to support me and the book a review is a brilliant way to do so.

Over on Instagram and Substack I’m running an experiment-along! Each day in January I’m posting a prompt in relation to the experiments in the book and you are very welcome to use it as inspiration and share how you’re getting on in the comments. There’s no pressure to join in or keep up, it’s just a way of sharing a piece of the book with you.

You can find me as @gabrielletreanor on Instagram or search for The Haven or my name on Substack and you’ll see the experiment-along posts in the Notes section.

If you’ve got a copy of The 1% Wellness Experiment I would love to hear from you and how you’re getting on with it so please do message me on Instagram or email me at [email protected]

Right then, on with the episode.

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Welcome to episode 136. As is the annual tradition at the start of the new year there are a lot of newsletters, social media posts, magazine articles, you name it, spousing the importance, the need even, of setting resolutions and goals, turning over a new leaf, reinventing yourself in some way. So because of this there are a few things I would really like you to know:

You don’t have to set any resolutions or any goals for the year yet, or at all if you don’t want to.

You don’t have to pick a word, or several words or a phrase, for the year yet – yes, it can be a supportive, inspiring thing, I like to choose one myself, but it’s not if you feel pressure to do it.

You don’t have to decide what you want more of or less of this year – I’ve seen this idea in a few places, I think it can be really helpful and I’m pondering it myself but it still doesn’t mean you have to write a list if you don’t know what you want more or less of yet.

You don’t have to turn over a new leaf, become a new you, reinvent yourself or change a single thing about you – it’s great to learn, grow and develop ourselves but it’s very different coming at it from a place of obligation rather than desire.

You are not broken, you don’t need fixing, there is nothing about you that is wrong, not enough or too much.

You can take your time, you don’t need to make decisions or changes if you don’t know what those are yet.

You can treat this week, this month, as just another week or month.

AND if you feel inspired, energised, excited to make plans and lists and goals and changes and you want to get cracking on it all – go for it! Maybe this is a time of year that really does motivate you to take action, in which case all power to you.

What’s key here is YOU CHOOSE.

YOU decide what you do and don’t want to do or change or embark on right now.

If you’re unsure, try saying an idea out loud and pay attention to how your body feels the moment you say it.

For example, if you ask yourself, ‘shall I choose a word for the year?’ and you feel a tightening, sinking or heavy sensation maybe this is too pressured and onerous for you right now. If your bodily response is a lifting, relaxing or opening feeling, maybe choosing a word or words or a phrase for the year, or month or season, could be the nudge of inspiration you’re looking for.

I say all this as someone who has a new book out, The 1% Wellness Experiment, all about trying different wellbeing experiments for ten minutes a day including one about choosing a guiding word.

And still, I’m not contradicting myself.

The book is not to be something that you ‘should’ do – if you know me at all you’ll know I have a particular dislike of ‘shoulds’ and I’ve never been one for the ‘new year new you’ hype – instead I’m offering ideas that you can choose whether you want to experiment with or not.

You can do one a day for a month if you like, or not. You can spend less than ten minutes on it if you like. You can tweak the ideas to better suit you and your life if you like. You can join in the daily Experiment-along on my Substack Notes and Instagram. You can take it completely at your own pace. You can read the book and do nothing. You can ignore the book completely!

You choose what you do and don’t do in January. Not the media, not wellness gurus, not well-meaning friends, not Substack writers, not Instagram post-ers, podcasters… they can all share what they see as a great idea, what they’re doing (or think they should be doing), but you get to choose how you move through this month, no-one else.

I know I’ve talked about this on a few occasions before. It’s woven into my book and I’m sure I will talk about it again in the future because I don’t think this is something that can be said enough.

So much of the time so much of our capitalist, patriarchal world is telling us what we should do, what we ought to and need to do (and not do) to be good people, to be liked, respected, accepted, successful. And at the same time the message is that we have to keep going, keep striving, keep doing more and better because unless we keep on keeping on any popularity, respect, acceptance and success we manage to achieve will be lost.

Which is why, if it feels difficult, wrong even, to not start a new exercise regime or diet or set goals or even choose a word for the year, it’s because you’re going against the binary messaging that you must do or else you’re failing.

So take these messages not as instructions but as suggestions. For you to choose what you do (or not do) with them as you see fit, for you.

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Thank you for listening to Pressing Pause, you can find the show notes at gabrielletreanor.com/podcast. And as I said at the start, if you’re enjoying reading The 1% Wellness Experiment it would be fantastic if you could post a quick review on the Amazon page because that really helps the book to be found among the millions of books out there.

I always love to hear from you, whther it’s about this podcast, the book, anything really, so do email me at [email protected].

Thanks again for listening, until next time.