here's something very enticing about the chance for a fresh start. The idea that we can wipe the slate clean and re-make ourselves as a slightly better, fitter, more organised version of the old us is hard to ignore. In this society, we get two collective fresh starts every year, one in January and a second in September, when even those who don't have school-age children get that new-school-year buzz!
Every December I tell myself that I won't get caught up in New Year's Resolution madness and will instead respect the quietness and darkness of winter. Last year I decided to mull during January, to let things filter through in February and begin again in March. Despite this, I bought an ab-wheel in Lidl before January 7th (at €3 it turned out to be an excellent purchase!).
This year I decided to embrace my desire to set intentions at this time of the year when that energy pervades. Although I've made my resolutions (20 of them for the year that's in it!), I have no ambition to achieve all of these right away. Rather they are a list of things that I hope to achieve during the next 12 months; some major, some minor, some important and some relatively trivial.
When making this list I first thought of categories in which I wanted to see a change or improvement during the year. As a began to work through the particulars practising self-compassion became a theme - I've tried to recognise that being a working mum doesn't leave much time for self improvement so my ambitions need to be manageable within the context of my busy day-to-day life. A lot of the items that I've included are plans that I've already spoken to friends or family about or things that I've already booked. I have included them both to give myself a boost from the start and because when I review my year in December I'm sure that these will be highlights if they've come to happen as planned!
So here goes nothing...
Health and fitness is always important to me and I do move and breathe mindfully in some way every day but over the past two years there has been very little consistency to my fitness routine outside of yoga. It's very important that I do other types of movement as I need to build strength to support my mobility, my cardio fitness is not what it used to be, plus it's sensible to move in different and new ways rather than repeating the same patterns.
1. Handstand every day
2. 3 x resistance or weight sessions per week
4. Run once per week (March - November. There’s no point in me resolving to run when it’s cold, I know I'll avoid it when the temperature is low!)
5. Meditate 6/7 days per week (upping it from 4/5 days per week last year).
Over the past few years it has been really difficult to take time away from my family to train. While I've taken CPD courses, I haven't been able to commit to starting my advanced 500-hr training, which has sometimes been frustrating. In late 2019 I started a 500-hr training with Tiffany Cruikshank's Yoga Medicine and I'll be continuing it over the next couple of years. This course has a reputation for being a rigorous training and I'm very excited about it - it's always thrilling to learn more about this incredible practice and how I can share it well.
6. Train with Yoga Medicine (already booked, Nervous System Module here I come!)
7. Take at least one other intensive CPD yoga or meditation training in Dublin.
This really is the most important category of all. Like most people, I am constantly working on improving the quality of my closest relationships and I could have added many more intentions to this list. However, I wanted to include concrete items that I can action rather than general ideas or feelings. The more general heart and gut stuff is always ongoing in the background...
8. Go on at least 10 dates with my husband (this might not sound like a lot - we have had a poor track record of getting out alone since the small people arrived but we are determined to change that!)
9. Spend a weekend away celebrating birthdays with my friends from school (already in the pipeline)
10. Celebrate my own birthday with the adults in my family (I’m gonna milk it this year)
11. Prioritise one-to-one time with my eldest child by giving him my attention when we are alone rather than tidying the house.
Every year I promise myself that I will organise our home a little better and every year I feel that I make little headway. My husband and I are not the tidiest people in the world and the smallest members of the family appear to be taking after us. One thing I am proud of is that we made some positive changes towards sustainability last year. This said, we have a very, very long way to go before we will be in a position to rest on any organic laurels and I'd like to make more improvements in this area.
Here are a few things that I'd like to tick off of my action list to make our home a slightly better place to be by the end of this year...
12. Get the house painted (already booked!)
13. Put up shelving in the utility room (oh how I’ve vacillated over basic shelving, this was probably on my list last year too and still the utility room is in shambles!)
14. Phase out our use of kitchen towel and aluminium foil
15. Make 3 additional changes to reduce our waste and impact further (building on lots of small changes we made in 2019)
16. Donate all the clothes I no longer wear and reorganise my wardrobes.
In theory, this should be an easy one for me given that I spent over a decade working in content creation. In reality, creating anything takes time and the time that I can allocate to creating content seems to get shorter every month as the rest of my life gets busier. So I need a plan and here it is! I was tempted to add something ambitious around improving the quality of my Instagram but I've decided to recognise the reality of my current situation and wait to add that when I can free up a few extra hours each week!
17. Post 10 blog posts to my website (1 out of 10 done!! Now I have to keep it up!)
18. Review and refresh my web content
19. Plan a children’s book 😬. I'm not even going to suggest that I actually write a children's book this year, I will save such lofty ambitions for when I get a decent night's sleep on a regular basis!
This last one could fall into multiple categories:
20. Learn to cook 3 new meals that everyone in the family will eat (MUCH easier said than done around here, all suggestions very welcome!!)
Wish me luck! And best of luck to you with your own intentions, resolutions and dreams!
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