I don’t know about you but in my lifetime so far, I don’t think I have ever been more excited for a New Year.
As I write this I was actually just chatting about the end of the year with my husband. I guess I am trying to understand why we do it to ourselves?
We spend the year pushing ourselves, as I discussed in one of my previous articles ‘Rushing Roulette’, ticking off our lists. We are tired, almost begging to have the end of year break, dragging ourselves to the deadline. We then think to ourselves …..hang on……let’s really kill ourselves so that we REALLY REALLY need a break.
Let’s spend loads of money on presents, some unwanted gifts, some ungrateful receivers, spend what we don’t have. Let’s max out those credit cards oh and let’s make it even more stressful and try and meet up with EVERYONE we know for the month of December. When doing this, lets drink all the time so that we feel more anxious, feel more sluggish, maybe put on weight and I reckon we should decide to spend 2 or 3 days locked in the house with all extended family members we don’t normally see and potentially not have anything in common with anymore. We’ll just eat straight for a few days and drink and will be none the wiser. Why Not?
Oh, and let’s all cook more food than normal and cook stuff that we have to really think about and make an effort with. This will cost more money and also make us more stressed and potentially a bit more overweight! You get the picture?
OK ok, so that may sound cynical.
I do love a festive drink with my friends and family and when Netflix and Foxtel load up the Christmas channel, I mean, that just lights me up! I am a big romantic.
I bought two Christmas presents this year, one for my niece and one for my nephew. That’s it. We don’t need anything, we are happy. If we do need something, we buy it at the time. Was Christmas special? Absolutely! We dressed up and ate a beautiful meal at a restaurant, we had drinks with friends around the holiday period, I had facetime’s with my friends and family in the UK. The stressful bits were eliminated though. No pressure buying for people, no pressure cooking or entertaining. No excessive spending. Just enjoying a break over some nice food and drinks but also some much-needed rest and recuperation. Why am I talking Christmas now…in February?
Well, you don’t have to live this year the same as every other year or live it the way you THINK you should live it. How about you live this year with new eyes?
HOW?
Write a list of what stresses you in a year.
Think work.
Think home.
How can you change it so that it aligns with your purpose and what you enjoy doing?
Do you need to have some conversations with family or friends? You might actually be stressing about the same thing and will both be relieved with a change in protocol.
As Einstein said ‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’ So where would you like to see change in your life?
What result would you like to see?
What can you differently to take a small step towards it?
I am sure there will be New Year’s Resolutions Flying around the place, but it has been a long time since I set one of those. How about thinking of where you want to go in life and start taking a very small step forward to get there. The car doesn’t jump speed from 0 to 120, it has to go through all the numbers to get there. Just start with one small step and before you know you will have taken 120 and it will have felt easy.
Katie Lowndes is a leading Life and Wellness Coach, Author and the Founder of Katie’s Beauty Kitchen. Click here to find out more.
