I don’t make New Year's resolutions anymore, not because they didn’t work for me - they actually did, well…to an extent, but because with age comes wisdom, and with wisdom comes the realization that we are all a work in progress, and that is a good thing.
We grow and change, and we don’t always need to self-improve (this coming from a former self-help junkie who spent her 20s and 30s trying to be someone else…).
My only true goal this year (the rest are intentions), as it was last year, is to be me. To forgo the need for external validation, which, I am aware, will probably always be there to some extent. However, as I observe in many older than me (but not all), we grow to not need to try and do everything, experience everything, but become more content to go with the flow.
I am inviting more of that into my life.
More being, less doing.
The important things in life – the people we care about, our health, doing a job we love – are big priorities in and of themselves. That in itself is sufficient.
And more of this that I have been working on for the past two years:
Unsubscribe, unfollow, stop bingeing on just-in-case knowledge, organizing, etc. Free myself from all that DISTRACTION - everything not related to my immediate goals.
Every year, I do Yearly Reflections for that year, however, I don’t set a theme for the year anymore, at least not consciously.
But if there was a theme this year, it would be “BE… CALM”.
Answering the question I ask myself every year:
What do you want to INVITE into your life in 2024? What do you want to EXPERIENCE? What do you want to FEEL?
I want to continue with self-acceptance and root my stability within myself rather than externally.
Calm and focus.
I want to feel energetic and be present for my children and family, and I want to feel good in my body—flexible, light, and full.
I want to stop collecting and spending so much time online.
In greater detail, taken from my "5-Year Plan” for this year
Year 2024, Age 47
Less digital, more focused reading—more novels, less new age non-fiction.
More living in the physical world.
Less living online, including digital collecting, blogging, sorting.
CAREER
Thriving in my job and seeing the next step in my career clearly.
Completed PostGrad and clear on my next step.
Novel completed/edited and submitted somewhere.
FINANCE
We don't spend more than we earn.
HEALTH
Following a healthy, energizing diet.
Established a consistent yoga practice.
Walking.
FAMILY
Appreciation and calm in ALL my relationships esp. mum, sister, children, husband.
Quality time.
SELF
Stop negative self-talk.
Keep on developing an inner and nurturing relationship with myself, not an image I am trying to present or feel like I have to present.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Hi Stella - thanks so much for popping over and leaving a comment on my WOTY post. Reading yours, I can see some very similar themes coming through. I'm working hard on removing the need for outside validation too - it was actually in a quote that I almost used in my post (I used it on my FB page instead to introduce my WOTY) because all that outside noise is what I'm doing my best to filter out. Good luck with your intentions - I think we're on a similar journey. x