I’ve always loved the New Year.
Maybe because it feels like a breath of fresh air after a whirlwind of holidays bringing the previous year to a close: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve… (throw in a birthday or two…). All of these events I find a bit exhausting, but January 1 – there’s a peace to that date. It’s now winter in Northern Michigan, the ‘slow season’ has arrived.
It’s quiet…A perfect time to reflect. But what is a New Year’s resolution anyway? When you really break it down, it’s basically just something you resolve yourself to do in the coming year, right?
I’ll agree all day long that you shouldn’t need a special holiday to decide to better yourself, but as a sentimental person – I find a certain pleasure in the iconic start date of January 1. And I’m willing to bet that other recovering maximalists do too. I believe the quality of being ‘sentimental’ is core in people who collect and hold onto things, so it’s only natural to cling onto traditions, such as a New Year’s Resolution.
Perhaps I’m only justifying my love for this date, but call it what you will: goals, commitments, resolutions – The new year is the perfect time to reflect.
So let’s reflect.
How do you feel about last year? If you follow my blog or videos, perhaps you’ve been decluttering your possessions and trying to live more simply… How did it go? Did you achieve all you wanted? Have you successfully “minimized” your life? I’m a big believer in always looking forward, but sometimes we need to look behind us to learn from our past experiences. We can only choose a path forward based on our knowledge of paths previously walked.
For me, my previous year was exhausting and I didn’t accomplish any of the resolutions/goals I’d set for myself! (That’s right, not even one!). But upon reflection, I’m okay with that. I did something else (I brought another human into the world, yowza!). In doing so, I gave up a lot of ME time, and needless to say, it was not the Year Of Rachel as I’d secretly hoped. 😉
So how do I choose my path for this year? What am I ‘resolved’ to do? The path previously walked was one where I gave a lot of my time to others. I was always saying yes to them, but not myself. Because of this, self-care was at an all time low.
So after careful reflection, my goal for this year is to stop saying YES to others so much, and start saying YES to myself more. Who knows, maybe this will finally be the Year Of Rachel. How about it, will it be the year of YOU too?