Hello Lovely People. Welcome back and I hope 2017 is all that you want it to be. Have we all survived the Christmas break? Especially those of you who were in for a fairly crappy one and now breathing a sigh of relief that it’s all over?
I hope it went as well as possible & if not, I encourage you to allow time for the dust to settle before you make any big decisions. Christmas & New Year naturally creates a time for reflection & a recognition of what isn’t going well in your life. But it also is a bit of an intense pressure pot and, coupled with feeling fat & lethargic, situations can appear worse than they really are. While recognising things may need to change, it’s worth pausing before taking any big leaps to see how you feel as life resumes & then thinking through the best next steps. Today I thought I’d offer some mutterings about January, New Year Resolutions etc.
I used to do the classic list of resolutions every year … and promptly fail all of them! Now I don’t do that anymore. I prefer to have more general themes such as:
* Look for joy everyday
* Be open to opportunities as they arise
* Aim to be kinder
And I always do a January detox to reset unhealthy eating / drinking habits. This approach of themes & a detox is serving me a lot better than the old list of dos and donts. They are so much easier to achieve & far more enjoyable. Last year ended up a huge year of transition with moving from City to Village but there were other transitions too. And as I reflected over Christmas I realised that none of them had been planned at all last January. Instead I got fed up enough in each case to realise it wasn’t bringing joy & take action.
For example, I have been dyeing my hair for about 20 years and I have never liked doing it. I hate the chemicals, I hate the time it takes and I hate the expense if I go to a salon. But I preferred the look of dyed hair to my originally mouse brown hair and then my flecky grey bits. This year the balance changed though and my dislike of dyeing had grown enough for me to try something different. After taking advice from friends I went to transition highlights and have now had it all chopped short to speed up the growing out process. So far so good. And if I don’t like being a more natural colour when I finally get there, I can always go back to dyeing again, nothing lost. Or invest in a range of mad hats ????
Sometimes a simple theme just helps with a lot of life decisions. Is this bringing me joy? And if not, what do I need to change in the situation or in my approach? Then just take the first step in your new direction and see what happens. I loved my personal 2016. It was exciting, emotional at times, adventurous and all of the transitions have so far been great and brought more joy to myself and my family. What could your theme be this year?
Any questions or feedback please comment or msg me. I’d love to hear your thoughts or approaches to January. Rather than January blues, I think it might actually be one of my favourite months of the year ????. Please like / share, Sue x