A New Year's Vision Exercise

Happy New Year!

The first week back after the Christmas break is a great time to spend a few moments reflecting on the past year and what we want to take forward into the new, and what we’d like to leave behind. In this blog I’m going to share some ways you can do this yourself.

I don’t mind going first with my reflection on the year: I dubbed 2022 the year of the spa break. After all the pandemic related challenge, I was intent that I’d take every opportunity to relax and switch off from work and parenting. I had some wins – I saw some old friends for lovely breaks, I took spa day trips and I went swimming outdoors wherever I could. My summer holiday – our first all inclusive ever – felt like a 10 day spa break because I swam in the sea every day and that is my 100% favourite thing to do.

And there were also times where I went for too long without something to fill up my health tank – a massage would be cancelled and I wouldn’t reschedule. I took longer than usual to notice when I was tired and do something about it (these are the peri-menopause years my friends, and it’s very easy to attribute exhaustion to something else like over work or needing a holiday when in fact it’s hormones). I was sporadic with my commitment to exercise.

For 2023 I’m continuing my spa break theme, but I’m focusing more on little and every day rather than waiting for a getaway. Every Friday I have started doing something for myself – I either go for a swim, see my EFT practitioner or book reflexology or a massage. This is an important part of me being able to show up as a coach, a parent, a friend, mum, partner, daughter, feeling balanced and well.

In my relationships I’m going to lean into those where I feel I can most be myself, where there is little drama, where it’s fun! I’m going to continue to tune out the noise from the wider world by focusing on my circle of influence.

In my business I’m not going to attempt to do all the things. My word for 2022 was ‘consolidation’ and my word for 2023 goes one step further – it’s ‘simplicity’.

So, how about you?

You might like to reflect by going for a walk in nature, talking to a friend and taking it in turns to share. You might like to draw a picture or journal.

Here are some questions to help you:

What did I enjoy doing in 2022?
Which people energised me?
Which projects brought me joy?
What can I acknowledge about myself in 2022?
What could I do without quite happily in 2023?
Which of my strengths do I want to be using more in 2023?
What impact can I have in the world if I lean into that strength?
What would I like to be saying this time next year?
What’s my word or theme for the year?
What’s my word for this coming month?

Reflect on your answers. What small steps might you take to shift a little in the right direction? Who can you enlist to hold you to account? The key words here are next and small, let’s keep it do-able (if you see me deciding to train for a marathon, will you have a word?)

And if you’d like to share with someone, email me here and tell me how you got on with this exercise.