If I was following the tradition, I would start this article wishing you all A HAPPY NEW YEAR and make the little dance that goes with it…. I would wish you all a lot of Health, Love, Prosperity, Happiness for 2017. I would be sharing with you my own resolutions and expect to know yours in return, to get inspired.

But this year, my heart tells me to do it differently.

Of course, when everyone around you makes a big deal just because we go from today to tomorrow and that the number at the end of the day date changes, you are a bit taken in the flow with the vibe. And because of many memories, it is always kind of a special moment, this 31st December at 11.59pm. You are re-thinking of the past year and excited because THE moment is getting closer, where you can have a fresh start and make everything better.

My Brother said something quite…. interesting yesterday (dear God he is going to show off for the next 30 years now that I said that ..:-) ). When we were all discussing together and we asked: how was the year for you? He said: “There is never a bad or a good year. There are downs so that there can be ups as well, it is part of how it works. I don’t think anyone can really say whether a year was good or not. To me, it was just a year, as usual”. And he pointed straight at something that many people overlook. There is no bad year. There are only lessons learnt. If things go worse, it is just because you haven’t learnt from your lessons and you are repeating the same things over and over again.

To me this year, during these End of year holidays, I realized many things. I realized how much I have changed, and how much superficial things don’t interest me anymore. I realized that all I want is Love for all, in the deep, real, true meaning of it. I realized that the craziness around those holidays is just a way for people to forget about their real struggles. It is a way of escaping, a good reason to do as if everything is going amazingly well. It is also a good way to make you spend your money in useless things… Fireworks are amazingly beautiful, but I thought: what if they didn’t do the fireworks this year, and they had given this money to people who REALLY need it? I realized that I am looking for more than that in my life now. I realized that my personal New Year’s Eve happens EVERY SINGLE DAY and that this is why I actually wasn’t that excited about all of this this year: I just don’t need it. I realized that my heart was sad because many people on Earth can’t even fake it and celebrate. I realized that my heart was with those who have real life struggles, deeper than just a few pounds of body fat that built up during the festive Holidays. I realized that I LOVE MY LIFE. That I don’t need special holidays to feel connected to my family again. That I don’t need a 1st January to start taking care of real important things. I don’t need it because this is what I do EVERY SINGLE DAY. I am connected with the people I love, and I don’t need a 1st January to remind me of it. I don’t need to make resolutions because I already changed my standards a few years ago and that now I am just getting better and learning more EVERY SINGLE DAY. Those resolutions are already part of my habits, my routine, and it can only get better. Resolutions to me are fake motivational words that last only 2 weeks (statistically proven) and help people feel better about themselves, but it actually concretely doesn’t help them at all. It is mostly an illusion that we like to believe in.

I don’t want to sound negative here at all. It is rather a positive message I would like to share: Guys, YOU DON’T NEED a 1st January TO MAKE THINGS HAPPEN. You don’t need to wait for that day to be better, to move forward, to learn, to change tiny habits and therefore change who you become. No!! You should celebrate EVERY MORNING when you wake up. Every morning, you should have a firework in you ( and make that little NYE dance) and celebrate life, and the new chance you have to be even greater than yesterday. Don’t let numbers dictate your life. Your life happens EVERY SINGLE MINUTE and NOW. It doesn’t happen tomorrow or in a month of time. It is what you are doing NOW that defines your life. Don’t waste it. Appreciate this moment NOW. Love yourself so much that you won’t accept any low standards anymore. Love yourself so much that you will only accept the best for yourself. When you get to love yourself, that’s when you become able to give much more Love to the other people around you. That’s when your heart grows and can actually give so much because it has it: you can not give what you don’t have, right? The same goes for Love.

So yes, enjoy every single day, MAKE THEM COUNT. Time flies, you don’t need to wait for tomorrow or to wait for something in the future to take action. Be your best every day. Respect yourself and respect the others, and stick to your HIGH STANDARDS as true core values.

2016 has been amazing for me. Many great things happening, mostly spiritually, with myself, knowing my strengths and weaknesses better. And this is the most precious gift. But I know I will be able to say the same in a month of time: my past year is always a good one, no matter what time of the year I am in.

If there is something to take from this article, it should be that all only depends on you and no one or nothing else. The life you have is the result of your own thoughts and actions. If you are not happy, take time to figure out what is happening and to make better choices for yourself. Don’t play the victim finding excuses of why you can not make the change. You can always do it. Limitations are created by your own brain and PARADIGM.

So yes, now you can SMILE. Smile to life because the Universe says YES to anything you are thinking of. SMILE because if you are reading this, it means you are in a good place in life. Smile because Life is beautiful, because YOU are beautiful, and that you shouldn’t let anything or anyone make you shine less.

Embrace Life, now and always, as it is. Make it passionate, make it big-hearted, MAKE IT YOURS.

In Love and Happiness,

Stephanie