What was the last year like for you? Did you achieve all you set out to do? Or are you entering this year with a sore head and an unpenned list of all the things you want to change? No shame either way – whatever it is, we believe 2025 is the era of being your own guiding light. So, let’s talk being your own muse and the best version of you in the next calendar year.
Firstly, what do we mean by muse? The term “muse” stems from Ancient Greek goddesses that were the inspiration for art, music and all of the things we look back on today with heart-eyes. Historically, majority of these icons that were constantly swooned over have famously been women, who have inspired a world of beautiful creations. And that’s what we want to do for ourselves – inspire our own beautiful lives.
So, it should be easy right, just simply deciding that you are your own inspiration? To become so unwaveringly confident and see yourself in this shining light … as a goddess?
I yearn to be positive and just say yes; accept the unconditional self-love with the flick of a switch. However, this could never really fly with me. Call me cynical, but, it’s not that easy to just skyrocket your self-esteem to these heights instantly. A muse is generally someone who is so distinctly close to perfection that it’s almost ethereal. And, it can be difficult to place ourselves among them, especially when we’ve seen ourselves through every stage, including at our worst. But it’s not impossible to switch our lens to being our own inspiration and become the best version of ourselves.
Sure, learning to value ourselves isn’t that easy. But it begins with a level of acceptance of us in our current realities. And then come the baby steps toward the life we want to create for ourselves. Now, this is where the New Year is advantageous for the brain. I love me a new year’s resolution. There’s nothing better than that mandatory clean slate invoked by the inevitable calendar page flipping over. It’s the perfect chance to start (there is a reason why New Years Day is the most popular day to go to the gym– apparently this concept of a new beginning really gets us as people!)
Forbes Health found the top resolutions for 2024 included improving fitness, finances and mental health, and these are great foundations to work with. But blending this with what’s important to you is so crucial. For example, fitness could mean a consistent morning walk with your dog or training for a marathon.
Mental health could mean seeing a therapist weekly or spending some time in the sun. Being your own muse means tailoring these things to you and the things you value. I mean, let’s face it, being in your 20’s, and even 30’s is unprecedentedly strange. I have friends with babies who attend playgroups and mums-and-bubs yoga, and friends who live with their parents and work double shifts at the local bar and have drinks with strangers until the sun comes up. The older we get, the more we are realising it’s time to ideate our own goals rather than follow everyone else’s.
This takes us back to social media. There’s an overload of multidirectional content online, and we have a saturated spectrum of inspiration to choose from. From gentle manifestations of a new life and yoga-based chrysalis transformations to the no nonsense “logical” hustle culture of David Goggins and the likes. The bottom line is, there is no right way to become what you want to be. It just has to be a way that works for you.
I want to talk about a modern example of a muse, who is a perfect picture of harnessing her own power
I recently saw renowned author Dolly Alderton with my best friend (gloriously hosted by the girls from Shameless Media, which was probably the most attention I have paid to anything in a very long time).
If you don’t know Dolly, she’s an author shot to superstardom and muse status seemingly overnight. People resonated with her profound writing style; she was raw about growing up and making mistakes and dating and being broke and, well, failing. She was just a normal person, who was palpably honest, and based her stories on her own life experience which turned out way more valuable than being flawless. She stuck with her truths. But it wasn’t that simple. She hustled, and she took risks, and she believed in herself, and at some points failed miserably.
She literally used her own experiences as the muse for her work, and in the process, became a muse to women all over the world. Her fascination with relationships in this life is a prolific theme throughout her books that helped her get to her current status, and I couldn’t help but think about the role that these play in our own self-worth and journeys.
The “interpersonal connections,” as Dolly said.
The support systems. The people we surround ourselves with. It really made me realise that your circle is one of the most crucial things in your journey, and becoming who you want to be. Alongside these valuable relationships comes removing those that drain you.
Which doesn’t have to be as cutthroat as cancel culture makes us think it does.
It can be as much as spending more time with your Pilates friends than your party friends. It can be about investing in your own career or business venture rather than networking with negative nancies. It can be about being present at family dinners than scrolling through Facebook feeds.
To cultivate these relationships, you must first value yourself and your time. Again, not at all saying you must catapult into a pit of self-obsession. But it takes self-compassion, patience, and of course, awareness.
So, how do we become more aware of who we are and where we want to be?
Self-reflection is a great way to start, to really help understand yourself. Journalling is one of my favourite ways to reflect, because in life it’s so easy to get lost in the day-to-day and all of a sudden, a month has passed, and there’s no tangible sign of change. Through journaling, you can flip back through time and see the difference through scrawled dates and compounding events that may have been forgotten. And then break it down into where you’d like to be next. Small goals are the best way to achieve big things. Getting up half an hour earlier and going for a sunrise walk. Do things that make you want to pat yourself on the back.
There’s an emphasis here on gradual change. The shift in habit and mindset. And that doesn’t mean making every day strict as if you’re doing an 8-week challenge. It just means slowly planning based on your values and shapeshifting into who you want to be. The you that would make it onto your Pinterest board. Being your own muse requires a sense of identity. Some may find it at an art gallery after staring into the depths of an inspiring painting. Others may find it through a certain book, connecting with inspiring people or whatever it takes to get to know yourself a little better. If you don’t know yourself, and acknowledge your truths, then you are not living for yourself. Who are you? What qualities are important to you? Who do you want to become? Only you can answer this.
“You change the world by being yourself.” — Yoko Ono
We all know what makes us feel that rush of motivation, inspiration. It’s time to honour our truths instead of ticking the boxes of what we “should” be doing. We need to see through the standards that are set for us, that our goals shouldn’t be “stop drinking wine” or “go to the gym daily” and instead can be “meet up with a friend for wine every Tuesday to catch up” or “join Pilates and become more flexible”.
It starts with stepping outside your comfort zone and doing things that are in line with these truths. For me, it’s about the outer-comfort zone things I would always claim “I could never do”. Like, going to a writer’s convention by myself. It might even be as simple as going out for a coffee by yourself. But those things expand that window of tolerance and make the world a little bigger, and gradually build that confidence and awareness of yourself. A frequent question that I keep seeing is: What impact do you want to have on the world? But I think more importantly the question should be: What impact do you want to have on your own world?
“You’ve been criticising yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” — Louise Hay
You might find that the muse has been you all along.
Read more of our New Year articles here.
