New Year – New You

The Art Of Reinvention

New Year

New You

by Lisa Laird

January 1, 2019

It all began a year ago on New Year’s Day when I attended a party with a girlfriend who had recently re-invented herself.  She had accomplished this with a new look, a new attitude and new clothes.  My great idea initially came about out of envy.  I was so jealous of all the attention she got that night that I decided to make some changes in my life for the better.

Overall, I was functioning at a level physically that I knew deep down inside was at low par.  I was 50 pounds overweight and sluggish all the time.  I had the energy of a snail, and no motivation to move faster.  I couldn’t climb a flight of stairs without stopping to catch my breath.  I had my hair in braids, so I didn’t have to be bothered with it, and I hadn’t bought a new dress in five years.

I was thirty-six.  But I felt like a fifty year old woman when I climbed the stairs, and I had long ago decided that there was no point in competing for the attention of the opposite sex.  I had given up after two unsuccessful marriages, where I came out feeling battered, beaten and betrayed.

My two great pleasures in life were now my plants and cooking, and I had resigned myself to a life of books, horticulture and good eating.

But when I came home that night from the party, I sat in my favorite chair in the dark and reflected on me and what I had become.  As I sat there contemplating my first move, I remembered how my cousin had sought out the services of a therapist, when she was fired from the third job in a row, and how much she claimed the sessions had helped her.

I realized that I needed to talk to someone who did not know me personally where I could air my true feelings and thoughts and not worry about being judged.  I also came to the conclusion that I needed to begin a true healthy way of eating, and the road to developing that pattern was to visit a holistic practitioner who specialized in teaching the benefits of eating natural foods.

The next day was a Saturday, and I was busier than I’d been when I was away at school.  By the end of the day, I had made appointments with a highly recommended analyst, a holistic doctor and had purchased a membership to a local health club.

I was ecstatic as I prepared for my great adventure.  I had always wanted to open up my soul to a learned listener, and I was anticipating the opportunity.  That same night, I tore out a photo in a magazine of a model in a beautiful gown and posted it on my bathroom mirror for inspiration.

As I stared in the mirror at my face, I made a decision to go and have it professionally made up and to change my hairstyle immediately.  By the following Wednesday, I had discovered that I’d had low self-esteem since I was a teenager because my mother was cold and non-affectionate.  I was also made to realize by the probing of the analyst, that perhaps because I had no male figure in the home, that I probably used that deficiency to seek out male affection to the point of emotional pain.

By Thursday, I had taken my braids out, cut my hair and begun a vegetarian diet, preceded by a colonic (an irrigation of the colon) that had me feeling instantly better.

At the end of three months, after drinking a gallon of water a day, and eliminating fried foods and red meat from my diet, I had lost 37 pounds and I felt better than I felt in years.

During the course of this time, I learned more about myself and my feelings that I could have ever imagined.  I learned of an insatiable need that I had to be approved of and sanctioned by others.  For the first time I understood the mistakes I’d made in my marriages and how much I had created my own problems.

My self-confidence shot up even higher when I went to Saks 5^th Avenue, got my face professionally made up, bought three new dresses, and a co-worker flirted with me, who had never looked at me before.

But most importantly, the best aspects of my makeover included, acquiring a discipline I’d never known, a look into my psyche that I’d never done, and a newfound love for myself that I’d never had.

It is now ten months later, and I have a muscled torso, more admirers than I can accommodate, and a new attitude about my life.  An attitude that has successfully motivated family and friends to jump on the same bandwagon that helped me become a better me.