To comment or receive more such wisdom, please register on www.gyanalogy.com/login
23 ways to rebrand yourself in 2023 (without giving into the toxic “glow up” culture)
When I say toxic “glow-up” culture, you must be wondering why I would deem it to be something negative, when we usually tend to use it in a positive context. Well, the usage of the term, ‘glow up’ has been more passive-aggressive than we’d like to know. We only associate it with physical attractiveness and if they look “hot” enough. Complimenting physical attributes is absolutely fine and makes everyone happy but reducing a ‘glow-up’ to just that is toxic, when there is so much more to us that makes us attractive. This also creates pressure to just look good and not actually feel good. Cutting down on food to lose weight has led to eating disorders among young people, and rigorously working out at the gym, and consuming proteins and other unauthorized dietary items have led to severe fatal health issues. Finding the right balance and not obsessing over one thing or overdoing one thing is healthy, physically and mentally.
Here are 23 ways to rebrand yourself:
- Remind yourself you’re different from others. Your life, your struggles, your grief, your body, your mind, all of it and more are unique to you, specific to you, and the way it chooses to heal and the pace at which it heals is also different. In 2023, heal at your pace, grow at your pace.
- Write down your goals for the day, week, month, year, or even for the next 45 minutes. WRITE IT DOWN. Writing something down helps bring it into existence, and gives you hope that it is possible to happen. Once it happens, it is satisfying to check it out on your list.
- Assess your mental health. Acknowledging pain, traumas, stress inducers, anxiety inducers, etc. helps you decide how you can seek help, where to seek help and when to seek help. Do not jump to any conclusions though, but a little bit of self-awareness takes you a long way.
- Assess your physical health. Mental health and physical health go hand in hand. There is this feeling of ‘unhealthiness’ that you might feel the urge to neglect but don’t. trust your instincts, and get tests done if it’s stressing you out or find ways to recover from it. However small it may seem, acknowledge it. When it comes to you, every little thing is important even if it doesn’t seem like it at the moment.
- Procrastination might have let you finish that tv show you’ve been meaning to for a long time, but it’s not always fun. Well, most of the time, we are unwillingly procrastinating and that’s okay but in 2023, make it a priority to escape procrastination as much as you can. You can do this by getting adequate rest and doing more of what you love doing along with the things you don’t necessarily love doing, just find the right balance.
- Choose ‘me-time’ more often. In 2023, pamper yourself, take care of yourself, and treat yourself because you deserve it and you don’t have to wait for someone else to do it for you. Look out for yourself, and find your peace.
- Meditate. As Cliché as it sounds, one way of keeping your mind equipped and avoiding procrastination is by letting it go for a while. Let it go to its happy place, and have its quiet time. Again, all you need is balance really and everything seems to fall in place. It’s beautiful how so much our world is ‘balanced’. Like the ecosystem.
- It’s not ‘cringe’. Don’t feel embarrassed to do things that make you truly happy. It can be the silliest thing ever but do it. (As long as it’s completely legal and ethical, haha)
- Seek Help. I mean, therapy, yes. If you’re meaning to go but are hesitant, here’s your sign to go for it anyway. Talking your feelings, and your problems out might obviously not solve the problem right away and may not ever solve the problem, but it definitely reduces the weight of the problem at least.
- You can move on without Closure too. Waiting for closure is so 2022, you can move forward with your life without that. You don’t need that reassurance from someone, something, all the time. Trust me on this.
- Change up your surroundings. Change the look of your room, paint your walls, draw cute things on them, stick those posters from your childhood or remove and completely change your aesthetics. Change is good. Trust it. Play along with it. Adapt to it.
- Journaling. Yep, not going to let this one go. Yet another one of those ‘cliché but actually helps’ things.
- Don’t Overwork. Tell your boss you’re done for the day if you’re done for the day. In 2023, we’re not going to be pushovers. We will get our way.
- Go Shopping, it’s okay you’re not wasting your time. Don’t look at shopping as something useless or a way of wasting time, unless you’re overdoing it.Rebranding the way, you dress also changes the way you approach situations, and has a great impact on your confidence, honestly, you might just love yourself a little more when you’re wearing clothes you love and are comfortable in them.
- Be self-efficient and Independent. Learn to do things on your own, be it cooking, cleaning, or other necessary skills. Never a good idea to completely rely on another thing or person.
- Be willing to learn from every experience you ever have. In 2023, make a promise to yourself to always have great takeaways from any incident, good or bad, and remember those takeaways.
- It’s never too late to be educated. Read, watch the news, have an open mind, have healthy discussions, and be more involved in the doings of the world. Evolve with time, but don’t lose your authenticity.
- Sign up for those classes you’ve been pushing. Knitting classes? Pottery Classes? That digital marketing course you’ve been dying to go to? Do it. Not altogether, obviously. It’s never too late to learn.
- Indulge yourself in art. Music, dance, painting, films, etc. We don’t realize how important it is to have a comfort song, a movie that makes you bawl your eyes out, that painting you want to recreate, and how you want to learn that choreography. All of this makes us what we are and it’s important for us to always value them and keep them close to our hearts.
- Learn to manage your finances. One of the most important life skills we need in our adulting is this. Finances.
- Be more responsible. Do things in moderation, don’t go overboard and cause regrets.
- Hold yourself accountable. It’s not exactly blaming yourself, but holding yourself accountable helps you question your behavior, and your actions and helps you find ways to work on it. Responsibility and accountability are a good look on everyone, trust me.
- Lastly, travel. Travel often. Step out of your comfort zone, go to those places you think you’d love to be in, go to those places you think would be challenging to you, go take solo trips, go with your friends, colleagues, family, etc. but go. You learn some of the greatest skills while on that one journey.
We’ve come to the end of this list, but we’re only at the beginning of this year and it’s looking Hella fresh and fun to me. I’m excited about some personal and professional growth for myself and I’m rooting for y’all. Happy new year to our audience. We’re looking forward to our journey in 2023.
Author: Pavitra M – A bit quirky and a lot inquisitive with the strangest humor ever. Basically, laughs at anything and everything. Pavitra is currently pursuing her Masters’s in Media and Communication Studies and has an incoherent but deep passion for self-care and ultimately on a quest to understand the best ways to do it.
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the article belong solely to the author.
To comment or receive more such wisdom, please register on www.gyanalogy.com
