A happy new year to you all, its been quite a while... It's now that time of year to get serious about stuff. I think 2015 is going to be a particularly awesome year, which started off on a very good note when I came across this extremely honest and sincere TED Talk by Mad Men writer Tracy McMillan. The title of the talk "The person you really need to marry" made me a bit skeptical at first; it sounded like a self help how-to get hitch type of talk and I was intrigued to hear what she had to say about the topic. Luckily it turned out that the title of her talk was very misleading and for good reason... The TED talk is actually about marrying and accepting oneself, which she references as- "walking yourself down the aisle exactly where you are."

Tracy McMillan is a television writer (Mad Men, United States of Tara) and relationship author who wrote the book Why You're Not Married...Yet, based on her viral 2011 Huffington Post blog. She also appeared as a dating coach on the NBC reality show Ready For Love.

Whilst I'm often unsuccessful I really do try hard to be mindful and love myself every day, yet I have never thought about making a deliberate commitment to myself using the same vows I made when I married my husband. Over the past few days I've been agonising over this very fact, however, I have decided to accept and love myself for where I am right now and rather do something about it by writing this blog article. Powerful stuff really.

The vows explained by Tracy are the most important set of vows we can ever make to anyone EVER. Why? Firstly, we are the small portion of the population who are privileged enough to worry about concepts such as "being whole", our "best self" aka self actualisation, so lets make it count for ourselves and for others. By loving, helping and accepting ourselves we can wholly accept others and help them get to a place where the concept of "self worth" becomes tangible. Inevitably this leads to more love, and so the cycle continues ( as cliche as it sounds, it's true). Tracy makes reference to this in multiple instances.

And as Tracy puts it so clearly- "The only relationship you’ll ever have with another person is the one you’re already having with yourself.” So, I have decided to put a ring on it, walk myself down the aisle and make these vows to myself (with the intention of those closest and dearest to me holding me accountable. You know who you are ;-) :

1. I vow to love myself unconditionally everyday (even when I feel insecure, directionless, physically awkward or overwhelmed). To love myself as I expect my family, good friends and husband to love me, and to love myself for both my positive and negative character traits.

2. I vow to accept that I will make mistakes and to understand that I will get thrown the same challenges until I learn from them... and then actually learn from them (with the understanding that it is in the face of the hardest challenge that I have the most to give.)

3. I vow to love others right where they are and for who they are right now, and to be purposeful in the relationships I nurture (in an unselfish way).

What vows are you going to make to yourself in 2015?