Three Things I Didn’t Do This New Year

1. I didn’t respect the new year date

Starting new habits right after a holiday of rest and indulgence has never felt quite right to me. I was always filled with some extent of guilt and failure-before-even-starting fear, rather than with inspiring new year energy. And ignoring the new year altogether, my ‘strategy’ of late, only managed to delay those feelings.

This year, I celebrated the lunar start to the year at the end of January instead, so I am only a couple of weeks into my new year; join me here if you like! Learning about the Year of the Snake inspired me to organize my plans for the year in new ways. 

And if you are not feeling the new year turn quite yet, you might find yourself motivated by the many different spring new year dates and celebrations that are coming up. 

2. I swapped a plan for just two words 

Rather than a list of resolutions or plans, I simply chose two words. One to inspire my actions this year, and one to represent a value I want to cultivate. Remembering my ‘action’ word - fearlessness -  already helped me dive into things that I would otherwise hesitate about. Similarly, my value word has been my indicator at many a crossroad already.

If you close your eyes right now, what two words come to you? I am fairly certain that for all of us, these are just under the surface; we just have to allow them to bubble up. 

In the new year Yoga Meet, we went through the process of selecting what’s most important to us. We also took a bit of time to set up tools for accountability, motivation, and support; to always have somewhere to turn to when the going gets rough. 

Whenever you feel like (re)setting your year, you can find the Yoga Meet recording and free PDF pages here.

3. I wasn’t hard on myself 

As I reflected on the process of setting up for the new year, I found that my inner Yoga teacher was pleased. I felt her smile at me. I explored the feeling of being at peace and realized I managed to do what most often eluded me in the past: I wasn’t punishing about the process and I was even being kind with myself about it (somewhat). 

Then it came to me that starting a new year is much like coming to our Yoga mats: if we can approach the task ahead believing we are already whole, our experience and results will have a joyful flow. 

I have been and am still planning out my work year. It is a work in progress, yet having set my general intention first, the process has changed from push to flow. 

None of the above was planned. It emerged from not knowing what to do in moments of struggle. May we keep finding the courage this year to keep doing things OUR way. 

In whichever time of the year you are reading this,
share YOUR new year date (&words) below!