January is over: is the “new year – new me” hype over as well? + What to do instead

Now when January is finally over, are we over the whole “new year – new me” hype? I try really hard not to think in these terms (for me it is the shortest way to performance anxiety), even if I do believe a new year, a new job, city or apartment is a good foundation for starting new habits (or whatever is going to define your new you).

However, I still don’t believe we are spending enough time to reflect on who we are – in relation to who we want to be (which I think is a common ingredient in all New Years resolutions).

And since I love everything about models, diagrams and illustrations – that will be my little Monday gift to you. I hope this once will make you think and reflect a bit, and maybe even make you realise something new about yourself. So, here we go:

Last week I spent a lot of time thinking and discussing this model! It is basically a Venn diagram with three circles displaying: “Ideal Self”, “Real Self” and “Mirrored Self”. It was a model I learnt at Hyper Island but I don’t remember the source of it unfortunately. You can google things like “real self vs. Ideal self”, “possible selves” and “self-discrepancy theory” to read more about similar theories.

The idea is that the Ideal Self is representing the person you aspire to be. It could be the best version of yourself, or maybe you want to be someone with quality x (like social, efficient, happy) or be someone completely different from who you are.

The Real Self is who you are right now. Basically, it is how you see yourself as a person.

The Mirrored Self is how other people see you, the person that you project to your surroundings.

So, why is this interesting? Well, as I remember, the goal is to have these circles as close to each other as possible. Because, the closer they are, the stronger feeling of mental well being and piece of mind you will have. I also read (here) that it leads to a feeling of higher self-worth and productivity. If these circles are far away from each other, self-actualisation will be difficult.

So what I usually do is to reflect over my “different selves”, who they are and what makes them closer or more far away from each other. I also ask myself what I can do to bring them closer. Do I have an unrealistic view of the ideal me? Am I too hard in judging the “real me”? etc.

You should do the same! Happy Monday y’all!

Helena