New Year Refresh: Starting off on the right foot
Hellloooo 2024. Can you even believe it’s the new year already?!
I know our feeds are flooded with “new year, new me” type of content and setting resolutions may seem a little cliché, but I truly feel so refreshed and renewed at the start of a new year. I’m geared up, I’m excited, I’m ready. It’s kind of like waking up on your birthday. It’s not like that much has really changed since the day before, but you just feel different.
I like to ring in the new year with some reflection, summarizing, checking up on goal progress, and setting intentions for the new year. Instead of setting “resolutions” so to speak, I do a few other things. I like to wrap up/summarize the year before, set goals, and choose a word & mantra for the year.
1. Wrap it up
I like to do a “202# wrapped” where I go through each month and jot some of the significant things that happened. I also list all the people I met that year, all the places I traveled, and record my top songs, artists, podcasts, books.
2. Reassess
Goals
What did I achieve last year? Are some still a work in progress that will carry over? Personal goals? Professional goals?
Intentions
I go back to that word and mantra(s) I set for the year.
- Did I live by that word?
- Did I use those mantras?
- Were they helpful?
In 2023 my word was Brave. It’s kind of funny because it feels so fitting, yet I had no idea what was ahead of me when I chose that word. I just had a feeling I’d need to be brave. I took chances, I went to the other side of the world on my own, I expanded my comfort zone, I was immersed in different cultures I faced loss. I was brave.
Lifestyle
- Was I happy with my day-to-day life?
- Am I living to the best of my ability or am I letting life pass me by?
- What can I work on shifting over the next year?
- What am I proud of? What am I not so proud of?
Plan for the new year
- How can I level up this year?
- Set goals
- Choose a word & mantra.
- For 2024 I’ve chosen the word Transformation, as I just have a feeling in my gut this will be a transformative year. My mantra is “show up.”
I’ve written all the ways I see transformation happening, curious about what’s to come. I have big plans for Lila, my career, and personal transformation. I’ll turn 25, my prefrontal cortex will be fully cooked, and I’ll have to make some big life decisions.
When I look back at a year ago, some things went according to plan. I went backpacking in Southeast Asia, I moved in with one of my good friends, I fulfilled some bucket list items like getting scuba certified and working at a sea turtle conservation.
Some things did not go according to plan. Both my grandparents passed, I fell in love with someone on the other side of the world, and I made the decision to leave my job.
How humbling it is that we have no idea what the next year will bring. Cheers to a brave 2023 and a transformative 2024!
