It's my favourite time of the year: goal-setting time!
This year maybe more than ever, I've been doing a lot of reflecting, thinking, and reminiscing. When I'm in my little house in Princeton for work I have nothing but time, and it lends itself for some serious soul searching.
I've been doing this work since I got here in August, and little by little, the pieces of myself that got spilled like a box of puzzle pieces sometime this year are falling back into place. Or more accurately, I'm putting them back together.
All of us fall apart sometimes. Nobody has their shit together all the time, and we won't always be on top of our game. Life isn't a straight line, and we'll all find ourselves on the shadowy side of life once in a while, wondering where the sun has gone.
The important part to remember is that the sun will always return. Just like spring follows winter, easier times will follow our hard ones.
If you've read my last post then you know that my word for the coming year is relax. With that in mind, I'm planning on zero hustling (I kinda hate the hype about having to "hustle", why is that so popular?) and lots of carpe-dieming. My goal is to walk tall, stop apologizing for myself, and to finally learn this lesson:
Still, I wouldn't be me if I wouldn't have made a few specific goals:
All of us fall apart sometimes. Nobody has their shit together all the time, and we won't always be on top of our game. Life isn't a straight line, and we'll all find ourselves on the shadowy side of life once in a while, wondering where the sun has gone.
The important part to remember is that the sun will always return. Just like spring follows winter, easier times will follow our hard ones.
(unknown source, found on Pinterest)
- Take a photo every day. I did that in 2014 (can you believe that's five years ago? it doesn't seem possible), and I love looking back at the photos and remember all the little details that I would have forgotten without that challenge. I'm borderline obsessed with preserving memories (hence this blog), and photos are some of the best ways to do that. I gifted myself a new phone for Christmas (the S9!), and I can't wait to start using its incredible camera!
- Take a second a day videos - of yoga. You may know that I've been filming a second every day all year. I've shared the monthly videos on my best and worst-posts, but I can't wait to finish it tomorrow and share it with you! That's the first time that I've managed to complete a full year, and I'm very proud of that accomplishment haha! For next year I've decided to do it again - but this time of yoga. I need an incentive to get back into a daily yoga practice, and this might just do the trick!
- A daily yoga practice. My practice has been so hit and miss, and it's time to change that. I'm convinced that part of the reason I felt so unbalanced this year is because I lost my daily practice, and it's time to bring it back. I feel so much better when I stretch and bend every day, and I have two very specific (if old) goals:
- Learn to handstand and do the splits. Yes, this has been on my goals-list for a few years now, but since I lost my practice I didn't get even close to reaching those goals. In fact, I'm further away now than I was two years ago, but there is no reason to panic. 2019 is the year where I'll turn 40, and doing the splits and a steady handstand is the gift I will be giving myself. My handstand-inspiration is Leigh Coates aka @leighyogipilot who is a badass yogi and helicopter pilot in her forties, and the creator of of #ResolutionHandstand2019, which is a hashtag you will see a lot of in the new year. I can't do something like that without community, and she has a ton of great drills, tips and tricks, and plenty of inspirational photos, often taken on top of glaciers! Just look:
Amazing, right??
Starting in five days I'll also be taking my very first writing course, specifically focused on getting published in magazines. I'll be taking it easy this year with writing goals, but that doesn't mean I will stop - quite the opposite! I just want to stop taking it so damn seriously and find the fun in it again that I lost a bit this year.
And that's it! I'm super excited and look forward to my challenges and goals for the upcoming year.
Get ready for a ton of photos in 2019!
What are your goals for the new year?
xoxo Miriam
Sounds like you've got a great year planned! What is this writing course you're taking?
ReplyDeleteThis one: "How to pitch and write for (women's) magazines
Deletehttp://www.superlativelyrude.com/p/courses.html
Laura is an author of 2 books with a new one on the way, and she does little writing e-courses twice a year I think. I follow her Instagram (@superlativelylj) and like her writing, so I thought I would give it a try. First writing course ever!
Have a wonderful and very happy New Year Emelie!
Great goals! I definitely want to do that 1 second a day thing. I even downloaded the app and then I never figured out how to do it.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest tip would be to always hold you phone sideways, not lengthwise, so you get the wide-screen effect. But other than that, it's pretty straight forward! You can always delete the videos if you don't like them and replace them with something else.
DeleteAlso: if you didn't manage to take a video on a day, you can always do it another day and put it in, nobody will ever know ... ;-) Or just use photos!
Good luck, you'll get the hang of it quickly, and it's very rewarding!