these are my reflections.
Confession:
The days leading up to New Year’s Eve and the few days that follow are my favourite time of year.
One of the things I love to do during this time is reflect on the previous year and set intentions and goals for the next. It’s a time for me to decompress, evaluate all that has happened and figure out what I want to accomplish in the year ahead.
To say 2020 feels different is a giant understatement. While I am hopeful and excited for 2021, I feel like I have a lot more to unpack this year. How can I not after what we’ve just went through?
Here are some of the key things I’ve learned over the last year.
Stop, drop and think it through.
For me, this year was a huge lesson in slowing down. I learned to make decisions based on instinct and consideration rather than just impulse and gut. It didn’t come easily though, cultivating patience is a very foreign concept for me. I’m a fast person. I think fast, I make decisions fast and I act, yep you guessed it, fast. And while that has afforded me some amazing and insane opportunities, it’s no way to live long term. Especially if you’re a big dreamer with lots of goals like me.
This year helped me give more time to the decisions I was making. I’m always planning the next adventure before I’ve finished the last one but when all you’ve got is a wall to stare at and nowhere to go, it tends to change your perspective.
Slowing down and taking your time to think things through is okay. Just because you have a good feeling about something doesn’t necessarily mean you should act on it right away. Or at all.
Another big lesson I learned this year?
The stories you tell yourself and the things you believe about yourself can either prevent change from happening or allow new ideas to blossom.
Oof. Read that again.
I am my own worst critic and the largest hindrance on my ability to succeed. This year was a time for me to break down the stories I was telling myself (and still do sometimes because, well, it’s a journey) and really pull them apart.
Why do I think that? Why do I do that when I know it won’t make me happy? Why do I in one minute think so highly of myself and in the next think so little?
I couldn’t go out into the world to find happiness, distraction, joy etc. etc. so I was forced to go inward. These were all the questions I found myself continually inundated with.
Here’s what I’ve come to realize; you’re not all that you think you are, good or bad. But if you believe too much of the bad stuff, you’re only hurting yourself and your potential. Change the narrative and see what happens!
And finally, the most important take away from this year for me…
Sometimes it’s okay to just survive the day.
I’m definitely the kind of person who beats myself up for not having a “successful” day. I used to think that if I didn’t accomplish everything on my to-do list or do something meaningful that day then I failed. What a ridiculous way to think right?
Going through the last 9 months, there have been times where I couldn’t help but just sit on my couch, binge watch Netflix and eat some snacks. And you know what? That is very okay. Just because I didn’t do anything doesn’t mean I’m a bad person or that I failed.
A “successful” day doesn’t mean one thing. A “successful” day is a day you made it out alive.
Being forced to rethink things this year has allowed me to evaluate my life and break some old habits that were no longer serving me. I’m definitely still a work in progress but I’m excited about where I'm going and all the possibilities that lie ahead.
