Intention
It's a new year, and it's the time when we all ask ourselves what our resolutions will be. The thing is, I don't really like to think of them as resolutions - things that are material and breakable and cause shame if you fail to keep them. I prefer to focus on incremental self-improvement daily although there is certainly merit to maintaining a scheduled time for reflection on what you really want your future to look like.
The wording of resolutions is tricky too, because when you say to yourself "This year I will go to the gym every day", you've then failed if you miss a day because a co-worker gave you the flu. When you say to yourself "This year I will buy a house", you've failed if the housing market wasn't cooperative and you're still renting next year.
Instead, I like to think of the new year as a time to consider how I could be improving my quality of life on my own by setting specific intentions for the year ahead. What I mean, is that I envision a specific goal that I want to achieve, and then identify a process that will push me in that direction regardless of any external influence. One of my favorite bloggers wrote a couple of posts on this topic, and I couldn't agree with her more.
With all that in mind, I'd like to share my 2018 intentions with you to give you an idea what I mean and also as a way to remind myself of my accountability to improve, not just for myself, but also to be better for the people around me. Self-improvement for my own sake is great, but improving and having that positively affect those in my inner circle is even better!
In 2018 I intend to:
-Cut back on social media (specifically: no more checking my phone before I get to work, allowing me to start my day with my own goals, not becoming reactive in my interactions with others)
-Write more (specifically: continue journaling each morning, but also write a haiku each night, allowing me to collect my thoughts twice a day and to stretch my creative writing muscles which will also improve my communication skills and help me access more empathy)
-Become more independent (specifically: figure my ish out and initiate the formal divorce paperwork, giving myself and my ex closure and allowing more space in my life for meaningful relationships with less baggage while also re-affirming that I can in fact "do it on my own")
However you choose to motivate yourself to kick ass in the coming year, I hope 2018 pleasantly surprises all of us. What are your intentions for the year? How do you set goals? What are your ambitions and what is your plan for achieving them?