New Year not so New Me.

Hey guys,

It is that time of the year again where people start to make New Year Resolutions and all your socials start to get a tsunami of 'changes' and 'must dos' and lets be honest, most of them only stay true to their resolutions a week, or a month tops and everything flies out the window.

Here's an alternate version of how to start the New Year on a clean slate especially if you had been a bitch in 2017.

1) W̶r̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶N̶e̶w̶ ̶Y̶e̶a̶r̶s̶ ̶R̶e̶s̶o̶l̶u̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ Nope, Instead, write a list of all the things that you are thankful for which happened to you in 2017.

Why write? Writing is a form of therapy. You have no boundaries of what you can do or create with a pen and paper. (Maybe I should start writing my blogs and uploading them instead of typing). If you don't have the habit of writing, type, it could be on your phone, your lappie, whatever. Start somewhere. Maybe in June, you will stumble across what you have written and see if you're still following your goals, it will definitely be a good way to keep you on track.

Sometimes, as you write, your perspective changes and you understand the voice inside of you better. When this happens, things will change, only for the best. Remember, a lot of your life is going to be spent alone, without your friends, your partner or your family. You have to like and understand the person you are on the inside, because she/he's the one who will be with you for the rest of your life even in the shower, before you sleep, throughout the long bus rides, whilst you prepare a meal. Subconsciously, whether you wish to admit it or not, you are constantly talking that guy on the inside 24 hours. So listen to him.

2) W̶r̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶a̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶p̶p̶e̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶2̶0̶1̶7̶ Write down all the things that you want to change.

Guys, the key point to starting over, is to first drown yourself with positivity. Positive thoughts, positive ideas, positive actions, heck, you could even wear undies with the word POSITIVE etched on it. That's how positive you are supposed to be.

There might have been many unfortunate things that happened in 2017, or the preceeding years. I'm sorry that it did. By now, we have all come to terms with the fact that regardless of how bad or good things are, we all have to move on. So instead of reminding ourselves of the negativity, list down the things that you want to change. It could be something as simple as wanting to stop the habit of nail biting, to something huge like cutting off people who are always hanging around you like a dark cloud, waiting to rain on all your dreams and focus.

3) Spend more time with yourself

I cannot emphasize how this is pivotal for change. As I said earlier, you are your own best friend in a way, whether you see it or not. If there are certain things that have been consistently going wrong in your life, you have to take a step back and look at yourself. Imagine yourself being a counsellor evaluating your issue, without taking any sides. Have an out of body experience and look at yourself. There is nothing wrong when you realize that there is a problem with you. The ultimate and most important part of change is acceptance, this is when your 'Me time' comes in and repairs you for you. Read a book, oil your hair, put on a face mask, kick back on a weekday listen to music and talk to yourself. Whatever that rocks your boat. Just love you, and pamper yourself. Also kick your own ass whenever you need to, or get a trusted friend to do so. Change is a consistent effort. It will be worth it. Trust me.

4) Cut off ties with negative people

I ALSO CANNOT EMPHASIZE how this literally changes your life. Many times we know that we have the potential to be someone else or to feel alot better without entertaining some people in our life. We have to understand that we reflect the company we keep. Yes, we do. Take a step back, look at the closest 5 people around you. Do you like them? Would you like yourself if you were to suddenly turn into them tomorrow morning? If your answer is no, then you should know what to do.

This is also one of the hardest thing to do, as often the people who hurt you the most, are also the people you love the most. There are two ways to handle this. Keep a distance so you don't get hurt, or cut off entirely. If you don't do either, continue feeling shitty about yourself, and cry in the room whilst everyone else is out there living life. This could refer to anything from useless clubbing friends, to ungrateful bosses, to an obnoxious relative, a close friend, a destructive partner or even a job that you have been in forever, only to feel that it takes a crap on your personal growth and self respect. How do you let go of someone/something that has given you so much of memories, moments, tears and laughter? Simple answer : YOU JUST DO. Not going to sugar coat and tell you nice things to make you feel better about yourself. (Maybe on another day, I would, but not today). Today I will tell you this, you either continue to let people shit on your dreams, or MOVE THE FUCK ON.

5) Tell someone you appreciate their work.

Here's the thing about human beings which I detest, and I myself am, or rather used to be a good example of it. We are mostly ungrateful bastards, that sometimes I wish that dogs could take over the world and take our places and we take theirs.

Have you ever realized that whenever you go online, (for example) and research on a company, product or service, 70% of the time what we see are all negative comments. Anger, complains. If you take a step back and look at it from a different perspective, human beings tend to voice out their unhappiness or anger more than their satisfaction. We think that everything that we buy, or pay for, (and for some scumbags, even when there aren't price tags involved) are what we are entitled to, Yes, we pay for an item, not for a slave. So why won't you spare them a second of your lives to take the time to say that you are satisfied with something, Again, this is just an example. Selfishness, my friend is an ugly trait. When someone is nice to you, it is not your given right. It is solely because the person IS NICE. So take 2 fucking seconds and say thank you, or I had a good time, or you did great. You never know how much those words would mean to someone. You know how hard life is. Be kind, it doesn't cost a single penny to be grateful/kind. Tell someone you love them (ONLY IF YOU DO HEH), give someone a random hug, or hold their hand, especially to people who need it the most. Tell someone you will be there for them (ONLY IF YOU REALLY MEAN IT).

Woah, I have a mean streak, lol. But yeah, that's one thing which I definitely changed. If I appreciate someone, or like something, YOU WOULD DEFINITELY KNOW. Because I am sure my actions, make you feel that. I have a looooong way to go, but hey! Look at me, recognizing my faults and working on it and all that shit. * pats back *. See, there's absolutely nothing wrong in being flawed. Accept it, and change. Or be a douchebag your whole life.

6. Exercise

I'm not going to sit here and tell you the benefits of exercising. Or start one whole compo of eating clean and what not. I don't care how busy you are, find 15 or 30 mins in a day, or alternate days and do whatever form of exercise that you enjoy because..........

But I will leave you with One word - Endorphins. If you have never heard of this sorcery, or never understood the concept of it, good I am leading you to something, go google, you're welcome.

7. Follow your dreams

You know how sometimes we end up doing something in the complete opposite in terms of career wise from what we really really want to do? Even though as millennials, a lot of us have had a greater chance and platform to go after what we want and actually make some money out of it compared to the other generations, there are still a majority of us who still work for the sake of having a roof over our heads, and to afford a $2.00 McChicken burger. (Sorry vegos). Ever woke up from a FANTASTIC dream or at a crucial point, all thanks to your mom switching off the fan to get you up? Yeah don't be a pain in the ass to yourself and cut your dreams abruptly. Find time in the weekends, or make free time. Like singing? Do it, find a local bar, go freaking sing on the weekends, like modelling? Easy nigga, do it on social media! It's free, and you never know where it may lead you. Love social work? Great, volunteer when you're free. MOST IMPORTANTLY, don't just sit and think of your dreams. There will always be this deep gap between our dreams and for it to happen. You get over or fill this gap only when you jump in and do something. Baby steps, and before you know it you'll be on your way :)

8. Travel when you can

What do you like? Movies? Sports? Books? Film? Art? Now take whatever you like and imagine walking into a room, with no walls, boundaries. It is just an endless of *insert whatever you like" in that room. And you can only walk back from the same door from which you entered in, which leads you to your life, where your home, job, friends are. Imagine that you have been enlightened, that there is a bloody world full of *insert whatever you like*, so many different types, so many different taste, smell, sights, the list goes on. It is the same with travelling, a well travelled man is always the best kind of man you will ever find in this world. Closing the door to the world of infinity is the dumbest thing you could ever do to yourself. Travelling also turns you into a nicer, smarter, more compassionate, understanding, and admirable person, as your horizons and mentality are broadened, you see different races, people, colours, religions, cultures, struggles, which you would never know of if you keep that door close. Trust me, the experience of seeing it and feeling it with your own senses in person heightens your perspective compared to seeing it on your phones. So keep opening that door whenever and as often as you can. It will always be waiting for you and it will never fail to leave you in constant awe of what exactly the world has to offer.

9. Understand is life is short

No, I'm not just randomly extracting a quote from somewhere and dumping it here. According to google, 55.3 million people die each year, 151,600 people die each day, and 6,316 people die each hour. Yup. Death is inevitable, and it usually never lets you know its coming for you. Most of us aren't that lucky. Don't waste a single day, doing things which don't satisfy you. Don't waste the rest of your life (which literally only God knows how long that is), being unproductive. Life is precious. It all boils down to either you dying before me or vice versa. So do the things that you want to do TODAY, (not applicable if you want to drink yourself silly, smoke up or murder your neighbour amongst other dumb things)

9. Believe in yourself, AND ALWAYS HAVE FAITH (even if it seems like it is the worst day of your life)

Everything will only happen, when you do. Don't ever fucking doubt yourself, you fucking amazing person you.

On a side note, you can change at any point of time, don't have to wait for the New Year, it's just a hype which I never understood the concept of but oh well....

Happy New Year folks. Start, end and keep it right and may God be with us every step of the way.

Love,

Naia Ash

(Listening to The Catalyst (Official Video) - Linkin Park)