The New Year
My oldest was born on New Years Eve. He likes to tell people that everyone around the world celebrate’s his birthday. I’ve never been particularly fond of staying up until midnight to ring in the new year, but I do love the magic of New Year. The energy of renewal and reflection of setting goals and envisioning your dream life. It’s a chance to design the life you want and make your hopes for the future a reality. New Year is a magnificent time for a reset. We had a big snow storm on the same night as the new moon. There’s something magical about seeing the world covered in white. It’s a moment of renewal when anything is possible. We can have moments like these whenever we choose. Each month, each week, each new moon or sunrise, or any moment that comes our way and jolts us out of our daily grind and we can reflect and redirect.
Making mistakes is human. We try things that don’t work. We say things we don’t mean. We hurt people we didn’t intend to. We have the chance to repair those things, to apologize, to try something in a new, different way. The new year is the perfect time to look back and see how far we’ve come. Take a minute to look through your photos of the year. Where did you go? What did you do? Is there anything you want to do more of? Anything you want to do less of? This is a wonderful time to remember the beautiful moments we experienced.
Take a few moment to reflect on your past year and be grateful for all you accomplished, all you learned. You had challenges. You had triumphs. All of it is worth learning and growing from. We get to start each year, each month, each week, and each day fresh. We can start each hour with a fresh attitude. If something goes wrong, we can learn to let it go and move forward. If something goes right, we can appreciate and be grateful and move forward. This past year, we moved into our first house. My youngest turned one and we spent that day with my brother who shares his birthday along with the rest of my family. I watched my oldest play in a tennis tournament and my daughter participate in her gymnastics recital. My four-year-old started a soccer season and I cheered him on as ran around and messed with his shirt on the field. We took trips to Bear Lake, ID and Disneyland. My husband and I visited Boston without the kids and visited our old stomping grounds.
I read books. I didn’t keep track of how many but maybe that’s something I’ll do in the future. I started writing a new book. I went to the gym on average three to four times a week for an entire year! I built a website and started an admittedly patchy blog. I won Nanowrimo and worked toward my goals as a writer. I can look at what I did well and what I want to improve. I want to build consistency and grow my social media presence. Nanowrimo taught be I could commit to a daily word count and stick to it. I took a course on organizing my time from Sarra Cannon that I’m implementing for the first time this quarter I’m looking forward to seeing how much it can improve my career as an author.
In line with that I’ve set goals, not for the entire year, but for one quarter of it. Every three months, I will take the opportunity to evaluate my progress and set new goals are on track for me to become a published author. These smaller goals for a smaller period of time will guide toward my vision for my life. It will help keep me on track as I have more opportunities for renewal and reflection.
I look forward to tracking my time and seeing how long tasks actually take me so that I can better set goals for the time that I have. I only give ‘part-time’ hours for my writing career with my family’s schedule currently and so I want to make the most of my time while avoiding burnout. Getting really realistic about how much time you have to give to any given goal or task and having a good idea of how long it will take is a vital aspect to achieving it. I want to look at my time more abundantly. Thus I will set tasks I can complete in the time I expect. This will be a trial and error process so I set very conservative goals, not quite sure how long each will take. I’ve got myself a pomodoro timer app on my phone and I can keep better track of how long it takes me to write 1,000 words or how many great British bake off’s does it take for me to finish folding the laundry. The more data I collect like this the more I can get realistic with the time and tasks I can finish.
Try it out yourself. Set a timer or a stop watch and see how long it takes you to unload the dishwasher or get ready for school or whatever tasks you have throughout the day. How long does it take to get four kids loaded in the car? Longer than you think and then even longer than that! I tracked my time with Laura Vanderkam’s guide and she has some great resources I highly recommend checking out her website.
The snow outside may start to melt and become patchy. Dirt and rocks blacken the snow and it’s not quite so beautiful anymore. It’s cold and wet and the kids track it all over the house and you have to chase them down with a towel to protect your floors. Reality will set in. January melts into February and the year marches one and one. And your dream life may seem like an impossibility, but just remember that another snow is coming. A new day dawns every twenty four hours and we can begin again however frequently we need to. We get to set the tone for our year and each day that’s in it. Some days are simply about surviving, and some days thriving. Some days you give and some days you take. Some days you need rest and some you take action. Each piece join together to create a well-balanced life. Don’t let the grime and the rust of every day life get in the way of the magic and miracles all around us. Look for beauty in the world around you and take a deep breath. Anything is possible. If you can dream it, you can make it true. Happy New Year!