2021 is now closing out, and 2022 is beckoning. This is a time many take to set goals, make plans, welcome new adventures, and set direction. New Years Resolutions are made, seeds of activity are planted, and dreams blossom.
However, even more critical, BEFORE you begin the planning process, is to take time to look back: Review, Reflect, Recognise and Release…..only then can you Rejuvenate and create a new roadmap for 2022.
1. Review
What happened this year? Review progress, accomplishments, sacrifices and challenges you met. Flick back through journals or diary entries, or online calendars and emails. Remind yourself what happened (you will be surprised just how much you did!) Review your wins, tragedies, and losses. Think of all the people you encountered, meetings and connections. What relationships were made?
If you are a list maker, recall the multitude of lists, the innumerable little achievements, along with the momentous ones.
2. Reflect
How did your activities make you feel? What made your heart sing the most? What memory bought a smile to your face? What made you feel most proud? Recap and celebrate the little things. Remember the times you did what you set out to do. Recall the times you simply climbed back up and got on with it. Think on lessons learned if that makes sense, but mostly just reflect on how it all felt. Who inspired you? Who did you help? How did that make you feel?
3. Recognise
When did you reveal the real you, or where did you retreat? What also caused discomfort – not the good discomfort that we know helps us to grow, but the bad stuff that we have no desire to repeat? Recognise what parts of your behaviour, you liked? Or what certain people and encounters bought out in you? Is there anything you would like to change? Or anything you would do again in a heartbeat?
Recognise with thanks, how much you have, how much you did, how much you learnt.
4. Release.
The past is now past. It forms part of our life journey and etches in our history. There is no room or time for regrets, or guilt, or blame. It is now time to release it all. Say goodbye to 2021 with a deep deep breath and a smile. See every little memory form a bubble. Every achievement, every feeling, every fear and every tear become bubbles and these bubbles release and rise into the sky…..with gratitude for what it was, let it go…
And make room for the new year…..
5. Rejuvenate
Now it is time to pause, take time, to just be. So easy to type, so much harder to live. Over the holiday season, so many conversations have revealed how long it takes us all to finally unwind, stop the clock on work, feel less guilty about the things “un-done”, the gardens that need work, the projects we wanted to complete, the people we said we would visit.
We need the time to renew and recharge ourselves. The challenge is to be content doing nothing, to really unwind. Only then can we be ready to bring in a new year, be open to wonderful new experiences and set intentions for 2022.
Work-Life Balance My Arse!
If you haven’t read my book yet, take a look here .. if you live in New Zealand or Australia I am happy to post it to you directly, otherwise it is available on Amazon and Kindle.
