What kind of resolution could you possibly make for 2013….

… if you can already fit into sample size clothing?

… if you already practice yoga every day, along with running, taking dance classes and walking to work even in snowstorms or sideways rain?

… if you already eat a strict, balanced diet and keep track of all your nutrients to make sure that you get just enough of iron, potassium, B12 and God knows what else?

… if you always pack your lunch and never waste money on crappy fast food from the vending machine at work?

… if you are meticulous about using your Clarisonic brush every night and never sleep with make-up on?

… if you never leave your house with chipped nails and always make sure to pick out your clothes, shoes and jewelry before you go to bed, so you don’t have to scramble in the morning for something to wear when it’s time to go to work?

Well, here’s an idea.

How about never, ever again thinking,

“I’m fat.

I’m ugly.

I’m such an idiot”

when you see the reflection of yourself in mirrors, windows and other people’s sunglasses.

I could add more. But I think this alone is pretty huge. And I bet there’s at least one more person out there, who will read this and understand exactly what I’m talking about.

Let’s make 2013 the year when we look at ourselves in the mirror and try to see something else.

You’re not stupid just because you missed that one deadline at work. You’re not disgusting just because you slipped up and had a cookie. You don’t need to work out for three hours or run 16 miles to make up for it. You should not take pictures like the one below and think, “even my shadow is fat.”

Sometimes it takes a stranger with a chalk on the Williamsburg bridge to make you realize you might want to start doing things differently. I haven’t figured out the details yet, but I will. That is my one and only resolution this year.

Malin Bergman is an ashtanga yogi, indie film and music aficionado, often-cheating vegan and failed ballerina, who sleeps like a starfish and refuses to accept that Pluto is no longer a planet. She loves green figs, anything crochet, horses, Coney Island, second-hand book stores and the guy who plays piano in Washington Square Park. She seldom leaves her house without giant shades, a mug of black coffee and her Chinese Crested darling dog, Angel. Connect with her on Twitter and/or New York City Snippets.

 

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Ed: B.B.