Ashley Graham Makes A Perfect Case Against New Year’s Resolutions

It's that time of year when everyone's expected to come up with a New Year's resolution. Unfortunately, the expectation is usually that we'll vow to lose weight, work out more often, or do something else we don't really want to do and likely won't stick with in order to rectify "bad" behavior. There's a lot to be said for coming up with more positive goals instead of putting your 2016 self down. And as Ashley Graham points out, there's a good case for foregoing this holiday tradition entirely. "I think it's good to go into a new season with goals and desires, but putting a pressure on yourself to look a certain way or act a certain way just because it's a new year isn't always easily attainable," she told Seventeen. "I always say, 'Oh, it's the new year, I'm just going to continue to be my awesome self and live out the dreams that I put on my vision boards." If she does advocate one resolution, it's one that happens in your mind, not your body. "Change your words," she advised. "Your words have power. If you're saying, 'I'm fat, I'm ugly, I'm stupid' or 'I can't, I won't, I'm never going to be able to do anything' then that's exactly what you're going to have. We get stuck saying the same things over and over again and it's important to manifest exactly what you want through your language." Graham accomplishes this by reciting affirmations in the mirror, she said. "When I say, 'I am bold, I am brilliant, I am beautiful,' those three b's remind me how smart and courageous I am." That's a message we could all stand to give ourselves any time of year.