LAUREN IMPARATO

Well, if it isn’t a fairytale season, then I don’t know what is: birds chirping, green juice blending, tulips budding, rabbits frolicking, hydrants on Manhattan sidewalks spritzing. It is officially summer!

In my mind, warm weather is a time for rebirth. It’s the perfect moment to Detox to Retox for our bodies and minds, so we can regenerate into who we want to be.

The key to this is not necessarily starving yourself, upping your workouts, giving up sugar and gluten or meditating 24 hours a day. It is actually much simpler: You just need to remove the labels, so you can revive the entirety of you.

Too often today, we categorize ourselves as A or B or label ourselves as C or D. In doing so, we segment ourselves, cutting off some of our best attributes and clinging to our comfort zones. We trap ourselves in a shell of who we think we are versus who we could, and should, be.

This week, I want you to forget about the pastel florals that surround us and come back to the true purpose of renewal and rebirth. Start by thinking about how you define yourself in your everyday life. First, try the basic statement: “I am [fill in your career, hobby or another label here].”

Now, instead, say, ”I am me. And that includes _____, ______, ______, ______ and so much more.”

Whether you see it or not, you are many things at once. You are you, inside and out.

When you finally let go of those divisions, constructs and labels in your mind, you will have literally been freed mind, body, life and soul. In doing so, you create a new self, a new you. You allow for a true rejuvenation from the inside, out, so that you can glow and rock out from the outside, in.

So try to #retox with me this week by shaking off one of your pesky labels or, if you dare, just jump straight into a totally new identity and see what happens. I’m guessing it will be a fairytale moment.