"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, on on fighting the old, but on building the new." -Socrates
It’s the beginning of a new school year, and for many that means a fresh start. Maybe last year was great, or maybe it didn’t go exactly as planned; either way, you should aim to make this year the best year of your life! The transition between school years is a great time to reflect on who you are, and who you hope to be. I think we all have different expectations going into a new school year of how we will be different. This might include quitting a bad habit, beginning a new fitness lifestyle, increasing the amount of time you spend volunteering, or just simply being happier in your own skin. Reinvention allows you to evaluate your strongest traits and your weakest traits, then use them to your advantage. You will find that if you spend quality time working to improve parts of who you are, you will gain confidence and happiness.
There are several ways to restart and reinvent as you enter a new school year. Many people like to begin with the foundation of changing part of their physical appearance. This is a quick and easy way to start seeing things in your life change. Get a new haircut or be adventurous with your clothing choices, try a style or trend you’ve never tried before. Changing your image is a great first step to reinvention because having a new look helps you to transition into the “new you” by allowing you to see a physical change in yourself which prepares you to make behavioral changes. Making a change like this might seem scary, but it is a great foundation to make bigger and more impactful changes.
For example, this summer I decided to cut off 14 inches of my long blonde hair, two months later I cut it even shorter and dyed it closer to my natural brown color (pictured below, over the timespan of just four months). My new hair style has made me feel more grown up and has allowed me to focus on becoming the adult I want to be.
Of course, changing your look drastically isn’t necessary to succeeding at restarting and reinventing, (but it sure is a lot of fun!) If you choose to skip this step, than you can just begin to make the much more important inward changes. Do a careful intake on the traits you like about yourself, and the traits you think might need to be tweaked. While reinventing yourself, it is important to be extremely familiar with the things you like about yourself, because focusing solely on the negative can be quite the downer. Really think deeply about what inner changes you can make to result in a better, reinvented version of yourself. Here’s a few things that many people like to improve about themselves. Take a look and be inspired!
Work to improve…
- How you behave in relationships.
- How you treat your body (i.e. what unhealthy food/fitness choices do you make?).
- Breaking a bad habit.
- How you view yourself.
Once you’ve decided what part of yourself you’d like to reinvent, take action! Make it a goal to achieve and work on it every day. Figure out why you're stuck in a certain behavior or way of thinking and counteract it. A change of perspective can be extremely eye-opening, so look at the issue from all angles. Be intentional.
There are so many components to ourselves that we can constantly be improving and reinventing. I believe that every day should be a day when you wake up and decide to be a “new and improved you.” You can’t get comfortable in bad habits and unhealthy ways of thinking. If you do get comfortable with these things, you’ll quit noticing that they aren’t what are best for you. So click the refresh button on your brain and restart. There is no better day than today to be the best version of yourself. And remember, always be true to your whole self -- you are only reinventing and improving on parts of you.
Have a great school year and walk with confidence in who you are everyday!
