![\"\"](\"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/january-joy.png\")
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I want to lend some spiritual advice to all those bombarded with the inevitable January blast of \u201cNew Year, New You\u201d thinking. There\u2019s a lot of advertising out there telling you that you need to change. Here\u2019s what I think.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/a> You don\u2019t need to go on a diet. Unless a medical professional tells you different, or you genuinely want to for your own reasons, you are fine as you are. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n You don\u2019t need to buy new sports gear. If you want to, great! But don\u2019t be pressured or guilt tripped into it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n You don\u2019t need a crazy new exercise routine. Exercise is amazing. It boosts endorphins, it makes you feel good about yourself and it can be a social experience- or a solitary, reflective one if you like walking through the woods like me. However, what you do to exercise doesn\u2019t need to get suddenly ramped up in January. Did you eat a lot over the holidays? Good, that\u2019s what you\u2019re supposed to do. Solstice, Yuletide; however you celebrate, it\u2019s about coming together and celebrating what you have by consuming a large amount of it! If you\u2019ve put on weight, it\u2019s to keep you warm throughout the winter months. Exercise as much or as little as you normally would, or gradually increase. It can be bad for you to suddenly shock your body with a new and vigorous workout routine. Be kind to yourself.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Sales! Sales are amazing. But do you really need another five leather bound spell notebooks? That alder wand? Ten more pairs of crystal earrings because they have 10% off on Etsy? Okay, okay, many of these things just call to us! But try and remember, the planet needs us to buy less. It needs us to ship less. It needs us to lower our carbon footprint. And you probably have some amazing things you can reuse or repurpose. Plus, finding yourself suddenly poor halfway through January can be intensely depressing. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Resist advertising. Resist the pressure from peers to be better, get fitter, be more spiritually aware via things you have to buy. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The price for December\u2019s joy is not<\/i> January\u2019s misery.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n About the Author:<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Mabh Savage<\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0is a Pagan author, poet and musician, as well as a freelance journalist.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n She is the author of A Modern Celt: Seeking the Ancestors<\/a> & Pagan Portals \u2013 Celtic Witchcraft: Modern Witchcraft Meets Celtic Ways<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I want to lend some spiritual advice to all those bombarded with the inevitable January blast of \u201cNew Year, New You\u201d thinking. There\u2019s a lot of advertising out there telling you that you need to change. Here\u2019s what I think. You don\u2019t need to go on a diet. Unless a medical professional tells you different, or you genuinely want to for your own reasons, you are fine as you are. You don\u2019t need to buy new sports gear. If you want to, great! But don\u2019t be pressured or guilt tripped into it. You don\u2019t need a crazy new exercise routine. Exercise is amazing. It boosts endorphins, it makes you feel good about yourself and it can be a social experience- or a solitary, reflective one if you like walking through the woods like me. However, what you do to exercise doesn\u2019t need to get suddenly ramped up in January. Did you eat a lot over the holidays? Good, that\u2019s what you\u2019re supposed to do. Solstice, Yuletide; however you celebrate, it\u2019s about coming together and celebrating what you have by consuming a large amount of it! If you\u2019ve put on weight, it\u2019s to keep you warm throughout the winter months. Exercise as much or as little as you normally would, or gradually increase. It can be bad for you to suddenly shock your body with a new and vigorous workout routine. Be kind to yourself. Sales! Sales are amazing. But do you really need another five leather bound spell notebooks? That alder wand? Ten more pairs of crystal earrings because they have 10% off on Etsy? Okay, okay, many of these things just call to us! But try and remember, the planet needs us to buy less. It needs us to ship less. It needs us to lower our carbon footprint. And you probably have some amazing things you can reuse or repurpose. Plus, finding yourself suddenly poor halfway through January can be intensely depressing. Resist advertising. Resist the pressure from peers to be better, get fitter, be more spiritually aware via things you have to buy. The price for December\u2019s joy is not January\u2019s misery. *** About the Author: Mabh Savage\u00a0is a Pagan author, poet and musician, as well as a freelance journalist. She is the author of A Modern Celt: Seeking the Ancestors & Pagan Portals \u2013 Celtic Witchcraft: Modern Witchcraft Meets Celtic Ways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":206,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10004],"tags":[10714,10708,10716,10715,10709,10707,10710,10711,10499,10713,10316,10527,10349,10712],"class_list":["post-21374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monthly-columns","tag-advertising","tag-blues","tag-buying","tag-exercise","tag-happiness","tag-january","tag-joy","tag-misery","tag-new-year","tag-new-you","tag-over","tag-promise","tag-self-care","tag-yourself"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/206"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21374"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21376,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21374\/revisions\/21376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}