{"id":763,"date":"2013-01-09T14:38:20","date_gmt":"2013-01-09T13:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/?p=763"},"modified":"2023-03-30T11:44:26","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T09:44:26","slug":"lighten-your-load-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/fr\/blog\/lighten-your-load-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Lighten your load"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>January is traditionally a time when we start expecting more from ourselves, imposing diets and exercise regimes on our bodies, beginning new projects and giving up vices. But what if, this year, you chose to lose a different kind of weight?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Happy New Year, readers! A bit late this time in the month but a hearty wish for health and happiness is never de trop. Actually, my first column of 2013 is coming to you late in January on purpose. We\u2019re spoilt for choice in terms of resolutions and self-improvement articles from about mid-December to mid-January every year and, while I\u2019m a big fan of making resolutions and setting goals, I thought I\u2019d opt out this year.<\/p>\n<p>January is a horrible month to make changes in your life, isn\u2019t it? It\u2019s cold out and you\u2019re trying to take up jogging; you\u2019re stomach\u2019s stretched from all the Yuletide excess and you\u2019re trying to eat less; the post-Christmas blues set in and you\u2019re trying to give up your favourite vices. The back-to-school time in September is a much easier time to start any project, in my opinion, but my letters to the UN suggesting we re-think the calendar fall of deaf ears each year, so I guess we\u2019re stuck with January resolutions.<\/p>\n<p>But hey, here\u2019s an idea, what if this year we made a different kind of resolution? Or rather, what if we framed our resolutions differently? Instead of thinking about \u201cmaking changes\u201d and \u201cgiving things up\u201d, how about simply letting go of things that do not serve your wellbeing?<\/p>\n<p><strong>What are you carrying around?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s take the humble handbag as a nice tangible start. Many of us are guilty of filling to capacity. If you had emptied mine out not so long ago, you\u2019d have found at least three pens, a filofax, my phone, a notepad, lip balm, paracetamol, plasters, tissues, an assortment of hair pins, a novel, a comb, two memory sticks, a few business cards, perhaps a journal, an apple, some post-its\u2026 you get the idea. It was like I was trying to prepare for every eventuality in life, make sure I had everything I\u2019d need in all circumstances. One day I got so fed up (and my right shoulder got so sore) that I decided to downsize my handbag \u2013 and now I only ever leave the house with the things I\u2019ll really need. The rest \u2013 I\u2019ll make do! One pen is fine; leave the journal at home (I never stop in a charming caf\u00e9 on my way home to write a few lines); put my appointments into my phone diary\u2026 I literally lightened my load.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Shake it off<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Applied to other areas of life, the benefits of lightening your load are myriad. Why not stop expecting yourself to behave perfectly all the time? What would happen if you took that weight off your shoulders? Or what about not always obliging yourself to answer your phone or reply to texts the minute you get them? What if, every so often, you let yourself off the hook? As well as getting rid of self-imposed expectations, we can all do with letting go of some other, heavier, mental baggage. Like perpetual pessimism; the long-held and unjustified belief that we are not good enough; the conviction that we\u2019re not great at sports; fear of commitment\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Eliminate the negative<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Whether it\u2019s by travelling light, or working to shed a few psychological kilos (yep, living in France, I\u2019ve gone full metric), we can all lighten our load a bit, without dropping balls or becoming irresponsible or unreliable. As we enter 2013, why not think about imposing less on yourself rather than more? I\u2019m not saying don\u2019t give up smoking or take up exercise, of course. But do think about framing them in such a way that you\u2019re more aware of the ways in which you are freeing yourself up than the things you are giving up.<\/p>\n<p>Originally published on Running in Heels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>January is traditionally a time when we start expecting more from ourselves, imposing diets and exercise regimes on our bodies, beginning new projects and giving up vices. But what if, this year, you chose to lose a different kind of weight? Happy New Year, readers! A bit late this time in the month but a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[168],"tags":[97,106,133],"class_list":["post-763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coaching","tag-new-year","tag-positive-thought","tag-resolutions"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lighten your load - Joanne Archibald | Coaching<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/lighten-your-load-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lighten your load - Joanne Archibald | Coaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"January is traditionally a time when we start expecting more from ourselves, imposing diets and exercise regimes on our bodies, beginning new projects and giving up vices. 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