To mark the start of the year, our SUN (Service User Network) Group Facilitator with Lived Experience, Freyja, shares the beautiful poem she wrote about the pressure we feel to change ourselves as part of the new year resolutions tradition.
She writes:
I scroll through social media
Archive another 30 emails
Shouldn’t this be easier?
Day one, already fails
I resolve to lose weight
I resolve to get fit
I resolve to find my mate
To complete a new craft kit
I think I’ll go vegan
Yes I’ll stop eating meat
New year is the reason
But it seems such a feat
Wait, that 30km run!
It is for charity
For me, exercise isn’t fun
And brings no clarity
So I could start a new hobby
Dedicate the time
But the paints gone all blobby
Who even wants a picture of a lime?
Maybe I will quit smoking?
Quit alcoholic drink?
Stop negative thinking
And saying what I think
I’ll say positive affirmations
Have perfect self care
Turn all ideas to creations
What others think? Don’t care
I’ll be rid of depression
Be happy and active
Be the best at my job
A personality so attractive
I’ll never get things wrong
I’ll always try my best
People will see I belong
The old me laid to rest
But then I stopped
Stopped this huge overthink
Stopped trying to change
In the time taken to blink
Of all the things I could be
All the changes to make
Why can’t I stay me?
Not some imposter or fake
Maybe I could just agree
That starting today
I will be this version of me
Not the ideal they portray
I am a mess of scars
Of trauma and pain
But burning fire makes stars
Even rainbows need rain
I got where I am now
By just living each day
I learnt from the how
And the bumps on the way
Perhaps just being me
This year is okay
There is nothing I need to be
So as me I will stay.
Want to blog for us?
Did this inspire you to share your story? If you would like to contribute to this blog series, please email Connie, our Communications Lead, at connie@maryfrancestrust.org.uk. The blogs can be poems, song or videos – whatever format you feel most comfortable with!
