Resolve – no, choose –  to be happy, healthy and whole in 2018

There are tons of memes going around social media that are so fitting for this time of year.

This one is our favorite.

Hilarious, right? Totally.

The meme got us here at H2W Apparel talking about the new year. Specifically, New Year’s resolutions and the suffocating pressure from media and society that guilts many of us into trying to work out more, eat less, lose weight, fit into those skinny jeans, get a smaller butt, get a bigger butt, turn back the clock and look perfect. 

And if you don’t succeed, ladies and gentlemen, then you are a big, fat, lazy loser from hell.

Hilarious, right? No. Totally not.

According to Forbes, about 40 percent of Americans make New Year’s resolutions. Of those, only 8 percent achieve them.

Eight. Percent.

As the writer notes in the piece, “Self-improvement, or at least the desire for it, is a shared American hobby.”

Setting goals and striving to improve our lives and ourselves are positive, fantastic things. Because we’re all a work in progress, right?

But this time of year, self-improvement often means killing ourselves to try and lose weight, get in shape and look better simply to meet what society says are standards of youth, beauty and vitality.

Here’s a radical idea: how about in 2018, instead of coming up with unrealistic and frustrating resolutions that will only make us feel bad about ourselves in February, we instead choose to be OK with who we already are – right now – at the end of 2017?

And by OK we mean choosing to be happy. Because the truth is, that’s all that matters, today, next year and in the end.

If losing weight will greatly improve your health and well-being, by all means, go for it. But if not – if it’s because you believe you should weigh what you did in high school or look like a Kardashian – consider instead choosing to be happy, healthy and whole next year, whatever that means to you.

Maybe it means going for a run four days a week, or going to the movies four times a month. Maybe it means reading more and watching less TV, or working less and spending more time with your kids. Or, maybe it means giving up fast food and eating more clean food.

If you’re doing it for you, then we’re confident you’ll succeed because your commitment is to yourself. You've chosen to be the happy, healthy and whole you that is already inside and has simply been waiting to come out swinging.

Whether you have a New Year’s resolution in mind or not, remember: we’ve got your back.

Join our revolution in 2018 – or start one of your own. 

Happy (and healthy and whole) New Year. xo.