New year plans with a fractured ankle

Well folks it is rolling around to the end of 2017. The end of the year always makes me feel a little nostalgic, and a little introspective. It also makes me think of any goals or intentions I have for the new year ahead. I know a number of people who don’t make new year’s resolutions for a variety of reasons. The two main ones I hear – the first is that they don’t see why they should wait for the new year to set a goal. The other – what is the point of doing it and not keeping it. I used to be a great keeper of new year’s resolutions. My two most memorable ones that I actually kept going for a number of years – the first was to stop making impulse purchases and to wait 24 hours before purchasing anything that cost over a certain amount of money. The second was to try one new recipe a month. In addition, I made and achieved a number of goals that had nothing to do with the New Year. The thing is – I don’t think I have to wait for the new year to come to make goals or resolutions, but there is something about the feeling of having a fresh start that makes me feel as if I can use the clean slate to set intentions for how I am going to spend the next block of time.

This past year has been strange. It has had some extremely high points, most notably starting the blog and reaching the big personal milestone of 40 lessons. I have met and spent some time with some great people, and had some incredible firsts including fulfilling a long time dream of being on a radio show. In fact, I achieved a number of personal achievements leading up to my 40th birthday, and of course reaching the age of 40 has been a great experience, and a real privilege. However, I can’t deny that I feel like I am ending the year on a low point, having not achieved many of the things I wanted to this year, as well as feeling doubt and uncertainty about the new year, thinking about upcoming physical therapy, and the unknown aspects of recovering from a fractured ankle.

Despite that feeling, I want to be more intentional as I go into 2018, and that has led me to look at a different way of planning for the new year, as well as what habits I want to build going forward. I have compiled some of my personal ideas with suggestions that I have read about to put together a little planner for 2018. One of the things that I have had the most fun doing was setting an overall intention for the new year, and I will reveal mine closer to the end of the month, as it will become a part of the theme of the blog posts going forward into the new year. The intention is not a goal or resolution, but simply a word or sentence that embodies how you want to spend your time during the year. A friend of mine told me that a few years ago, her intention for the year was “try something new” and so during the year, she resolved to try various new things – new recipes, restaurants, hobbies, a new book genre – anything really. A few ideas for examples that come to mind – movement, peace, connection, kindness, generosity, adventure, love. You can then use the intention to set your resolutions, or as my friend did – simply set the intention and think about your activities in the light of that intention.

I wanted the planner to be useful to anyone who wants to think about plans for 2018, whether they wanted to set hard goals to achieve, or simply to be more intentional in their day to day life. As for me – I have already made (and started on) some of the habits I want to cultivate. I definitely want to read more, and so would like to read a chapter a day – of anything. I also want to get into some healthy habits in terms of eating and movement, but of course I need to ok these things with the physiotherapist!!

To those of you who sign up to my mailing list this month you will receive a free copy of the planning workbook. If you missed the pop up which allowed you to sign up when you entered the blog, click the sign up tab in the top right hand corner, and you will receive the planner in your inbox, as well as juicy weekly updates from me in the new year. I hope that you have fun going through it and thinking about some of the habits you would like to change, the emotions you would like to feel, and the intentions you want to set in the new year. Comment below with one thing you want to achieve in 2018, or with your overall intention word or sentence if you want to share it. I look forward to hearing all about it.

Big love from the couch.

PS As a nod to my friends experiencing a snowy weekend, I am posting one of my winter pics from my time in England.