I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions, I set intentions for the year instead. I’ve found that it’s a more powerful way to go about making permanent changes in your life, and intentions tend to “stick” better than resolutions, at least for me. I do love the blank slate a new year offers us, though, and I like to spend time reflecting, journaling and meditating to set the right tone for the year ahead.
Last Sunday, Cat Love and Above Club founder Siena-Lee Tajiri shared a wonderful process to help you reflect on the old year, celebrate the good, release what no longer serves you, and think about what you’d like to create in the new year. I’ve used a similar process for the past few years. I love the ritual of releasing what you no longer want in your life, but I love even more to focus on what I’d like to create for the new year.
Since we’re still in the middle of this seemingly never ending pandemic, I find it somewhat useless to make plans, because, as Woody Allen so aptly put it, “if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” That certainly has never been more true than these last two years! So rather than making plans (and honestly, I’ve never been much of a planner anyway,) I’m working on not worrying about what I can’t control (and oh, there is so much of that right now, isn’t there?) and focusing on what I can.
Mostly, I’m focusing on taking good care of myself and my health, because if the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that you can never take your health for granted.
I’ve been taking long walks every day for most of my life, and I’ll certainly continue that. I’m also continuing my daily workouts with Schellea Fowler, an energetic 50-something-year-old who offers a series of short workouts on her fabulous50s Youtube channel. Working out has never been this much fun for me. I love that the videos are short – some as short as 5 minutes, others 10, 15 or 30 minutes – so they can be easily squeezed in throughout even the busiest day.
I’m also going to continue my daily meditations. Katie Krimitsos and her Women’s Meditation Network have had such a positive impact on my life. I can’t recommend this resource highly enough. If you’ve always wanted to meditate but just never got around to it, this is a great time to start.
And of course, above all else, I’m focusing on keeping Allegra happy and healthy!
What’s one thing that you will focus on this year?
I haven’t made New Year resolutions in years. I never could stick with them. I honestly haven’t even put much thought into what I want this year other than for covid to go away so we can all get back to normal. Thank you for the link to the workouts. It does sound like something that would be useful. I like that she focuses on the over 50 crowd.
I want to bring creativity back into my life. My job has taken over and I need to gain some of that time back for creativity. I also need to start back on the treadmill again.