Don't Be Scurred!

It's the beginning of a new year - the perfect time to eat better, sleep better, end old relationships and begin new ones.  Yet, by the end of February, all those new members at the gym will be gone, with their resolutions melted on the bottom of the ice cream container that mysteriously appeared in their freezer.  What is it that makes it so difficult for us to stick to our resolutions? It's not the lack of desire to change...right?

I think many of us (myself included) operate under fear - fear of change, fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of (fill in the blank).  How many of us have stayed at jobs that make us contemplate eye-gouging and hair-pulling? Or in relationships in which having a root canal would be more pleasurable than sex with your partner?  Fear is a cold-blooded beast that often motivates us to do absolutely nothing. We convince ourselves that “it” isn't so bad and take huge steps to avoid looking at how it negatively affects our physical, emotional and mental health. Usually it isn't until we are forced to make changes that we get over our fear; we didn't jump into the deep end of the pool, we were pushed. It feels a lot worse when we do not exercise our power to decide to change at our own pace.  It seems easier to learn to swim than to have to avoid sinking.

It's a new year - time to make a fresh start and more importantly, sustain those changes. I'm opening my own private psychotherapy practice and it is scary as hell. However, I don't want to work for anyone else and I'm tired of being fearful of failure. I'm facing it head on and doing the damn thing. I challenge you to do the same. What's going to be different for you in 2011?