How do you like to approach a new year? We have certainly shared in some collective anxiety as we have maneuvered through a continuing pandemic. Some have faced great loss and approach a new year with grief, fatigue and trepidation. Others have had an experience of good fortune, new hobbies, changes that bring joy and contentment. Whatever your experience has been, a new year is a chance to have a clean slate.
It seems cliché to set reflect back and set goals for a better you, but there is something about taking inventory at this time of the year.
Perhaps, instead of treating the new year as a time to point out all the ways you missed your mark last year, it’s time to acknowledge the challenges you faced and the ways you were able to overcome each challenge, because, we have all survived all of our bad days! That by itself is a reason to celebrate!
What are your tried and true ways to start the year out on a positive note?
Here are some little thoughts you can borrow to get you started on the journey of 2022…
- Thoughtfully choose your ‘word’ for the year. Let it be a word that sinks deep in your soul with meaning. Let it be a word that will inspire you to alter your day to day systems to bring more of the good things to your life.
- Resolve to change the connections in your life that allow you to be yourself. It’s easy to ‘fit’ in but it’s not productive and in fact, adds stress to our life. Surround yourself with the people who accept you for who you are.
- Be yourself. It’s so easy to see the perfect, shiny side of people around us because of social media. Don’t forget that it is human nature to only share the best. That is the rule for us and others see it that way too, so don’t forget that. Be yourself and allow others the same privilege and don’t judge others by anything you see on the world wide web…of deception!
- Let go of the past. Seriously, let it go. Let this year be the clean slate, a chance give yourself a little break.
- Take stock of things that don’t work for you and determine a new system or a new way of creating goodness in your life. Systems often work better than goal setting along.
- Look for happiness in each moment. We often think of happiness as something we go searching for and if we are lucky, we find it in a single event. Despite the things life throws at us, we can find happiness in each and every moment. Often it just requires us to slow and still our mind to be able to see the good. In that discovery of goodness, we find happiness.
- Instead of being consumed with the bright side of life, be content with the possibilities of life. Being able to see possibility allows for ease of problem solving.
There are so many different ways to approach this unique time of the year. Take a moment to breathe deeply and think about the possibility of now. Happy New Year.