Do what FEELS good; Reset with purpose, not resolutions
The end of the year is tough. And no matter what I do - from ordering holiday cards in Oct to Amazon priming to outsourcing for help - I still hit Dec. 26th out of breath, burnt out, and bloated. This year I even embarked on a 30 day yoga challenge after Thanksgiving to help ride the wave and it worked… until I hit day 21 and a nasty cold / cough took me out for a week. At any rate, I’m on the other end of Christmas and New Years and finally feel like I’m in the right headspace to think about next year. [some time on a Florida beach definitely helped with that whole headspace thing.]
As many of you who read this blog or know me in real life, goal setting is part of my nature. I’m always, and I mean always, scheming, plotting, connecting dots, brainstorming in my iPhone notes, so as I sit here, I don’t feel the pressure to come up with something big or revolutionary. This might also surprise you, but I’m not obsessed with resolutions like you might think. I think of goal setting as an ongoing, ever-present activity that things like The FIve Minute Journal help me make my goals come to life. [So hey, that could be a resolution for some of you out there? Also creating a morning ritual… that has become essential for me].
So, as we start the new year, what is on my mind?
Well, I’m mostly thinking about how I feel and my energy levels. I tend to push myself hard - no joke I’ve driven myself to seizures twice in my life - and am horrible at setting boundaries. Just the idea of saying “no” to people gives me massive anxiety. I rarely have enough breathing room to process in the moment, which more often than not leads to powering through. As I look to 2022 and a year from now, I want to feel… like that less. So leading with that, here’s a look at what I’m hoping to work at in 2022:
Feeling my best, more. This means decreasing my screen time, stopping middle of the night scrolls on my phone, working out 5-6 times per week. Oh and less salt. I eat too much salt
More breathing room. Saying no more, protecting myself, and continuing to let go of people who bring toxic energy [my god, why is this so hard?]
Acceptance and presence. Writing “I am enough” literally every day and dropping everything for high-quality time with my kids and husband
Consistency. I’ve been working on mitigating the highs and lows for a while now, and I need to keep at it. I wish I was more of a distance runner, but the fact is I’m a sprinter and it’s a forever work in progress to level it out [re: my thoughts on how being balanced is more of a practice instead of a permanent state of being]
Also, this is new for me, but I’m trying a low-fi digital detox. Trust me, I have the screen setting option on my phone [and I normally log a gross 5 hours a day on it, ugh] and a 30 minutes Instagram warning, but really, with my job I always have to ignore them. Which is funny because with my obsession with self-care, I would be all about digital detoxes if I could.
But for one week between Christmas and New Year’s, I got outside in 80 degree weather with my family as much as I could. I swam in the salt water, I tried not to wear my contacts, and I relieved the pressure on myself to publish on social media.
A lot of influencers I love, including Caroline Snider of The Wandering Eye, who I recently profiled, and Lisa Hayim, registered dietician and host of The Truthiest Life podcast, go on social media “breaks” and they’ve influenced me to do it too. And look, don’t get me wrong, I don’t consider myself an influencer, but I am a digital content creator and I advise others on publishing content. While my mind knows that algorithms love consistency and a regular cadence of publishing, my heart knows to follow my gut - which is what I tell clients, too - that if you need a break, take it.
There are ways to publish through it [thank you always to our head of content Jamie for keeping M.T. Deco thriving] or sometimes you need to screw it, and do what feels good. Which brings me back to how I’ll sum up what my year is going to look like. I’m doing the things, the to-do list if you will, that will help me feel good more often. Tell me, does this resonate with you? How are you resetting for the new year? [and if you’re not participating, high five to you too!].
Xo, Melissa