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Create Change from Within in 2009

The New Year is upon us! This time of year, we celebrate with friends and family, drink liquid cholesterol under the guise of eggnog, and eat things like mincemeat and fruitcake. Many of us overeat knowing what is to come: diet plans and other New Year’s resolutions.

Most of us choose the predictable cliché of “I am going to lose weight and get fit.” Often times, the initial springboard of this self-promise results in frozen boxed meals, new sneakers and a gym membership. It is a fantastic goal to have. Most of us end up not continuing with the gym, saving the sneakers for lawn work and avoiding the healthy frozen meal aisle like the plague.

Changing our outsides with makeup, sexy clothes and uncomfortable high heels doesn’t really make us more womanly. In retrospect, throw in a bottle of champagne and it has only led to me getting pregnant, which actually is a very womanly and feminist role to assume. Alas, I digress.

May I suggest a different approach for bettering oneself? We can correctly assume the generalization that this New Year will bring change. But rather than making resolutions about changing our outsides, let’s commit to changing our insides and resolve to positively change ourselves from within.

Grow your brain. Take the time to learn something new everyday.

Take the time to understand how the conceptual implementation of feminist theory applies to your life. I know it sounds like a mouth full, but — put simply — it’s about realizing how your gender has affected your personal life. We are swimming in the Third Wave of Feminism, ladies! Enjoy the empowerment. Yes, there is a third wave. Don’t believe me? Go call your daughters. Well … text them.

The lose weight and get fit resolution is a great one. Optimal physical health really should be addressed, but in 2009, don’t forget about the health of your mental, spiritual and charitable selves, too.

There is a famous quote attributed to Mahatma Gandhi that is an appropriate motto for those of us who want to better our insides as well as our outsides, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Related Reads:
The “F” Word: Feminism
Create Your Own Change and Make a Difference
Conquer Fear to Create Change

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