7 Things I Did Last January to Ensure a Great Year: A Journal Tour

I resent the negative connotation towards the “New Year, New Me” mentality. It’s our human right to evolve. Every cell in our body replaces in 6 years, taste buds replaced every 6 months, 75% of our composition is water, and the great conductor and connector is flowing through endlessly. It’s your choice if you want to sit in complacency, accepting and loving yourself in your dedication to comfort without challenge. Yet, for me, and the 8% that keep their resolutions, y’all are about to see what this girl can do. There’s nothing left to do than to act towards the life I love after the catalystic year of 2016. Here’s to going for it. 

This was written at the beginning of 2017, on the last pages of a journal I started at the end of 2015. The next journal held most of 2017, its last pages filled on the flight home in late October after five months of traveling. It was an amazing experience to travel and bike across country, but I'm most proud of the process I went through to get "out". I've moved to different states and taken risks before, but nothing came close to packing up everything I owned and riding my bicycle into the unknown. Doing something daunting was a process that was littered with stress, lists, and hours of research, a lot of which I could have done without in hindsight. I want to remember the good pieces of the process for each bold venture I plan in the future. Hopefully it inspires someone.  

Brand New Journal, first page reflection on 2017

Before the collection of new friends' names and phone numbers, Warmshowers host's addresses and directions, soul poetry and summertime love songs, collected business cards and pressed foraged flowers, there was a series of lists and a new years resolution. Here is a tour of my journal and things I did last January.

1.  Read this article

                    from becomingminimalist.com. The 10 Most Important Things to Simplify in Your Life, This is #3:

"Your Goals – Reduce the number of goals you are intentionally striving for in your life to one or two. By reducing the number of goals that you are striving to accomplish, you will improve your focus and your success rate. Make a list of the things that you want to accomplish in your life and choose the two most important. When you finish one, add another from your list."

 …and acted upon its advice.  I copied the article in short hand and applied each point specifically to my life. “Reduce Goals” ended up being the most helpful. Flipping through my journals led me to realize I repeat a lot of resolutions and goals, and similar things get transferred to multiple to-do lists. Just like reading a lot of different self-help articles, everything sounds like a good idea but nothing helps until you stick to something and start acting. Perhaps the difference between a specialist and a generalist is dedication. 

2.  Identified my greatest obstacles

Upon the first page I wrote, "What are my most important goals in life?" the following, "My greatest obstacles to achieving these goals". 

Now, I don't want to air my inner most dreams, so you will just have to wonder about the rest, but the first goal was Bold Adventure. Which is something I feel I truly accomplished this year through travelling. Coupled with the resolutions I made two weeks prior to this list, "To become more comfortable spending time alone" and the other to exercise some accumulative, vague number of miles a week, I somehow found a way to get closer to all of my goals and resolutions by focusing on this one. Acknowledging each obstacle on paper made it easier to overcome.

3. Reimagined my roles

Who - Am I right now? Do I have the supplies to become[this person]?
Why- am I in this environment? What relationships do I subscribe to, do I actually fill the role I've created in my mind? 

This one was, and is, difficult. Not to mention, it is very personal. The partner I had at the time was one that challenged (sometimes prompted) me on all of seven of these, but most specifically this one. It caused a lot of tension, and of course, as a result, growth. Ironically, that partnership was another role I eventually reimagined. It's an interesting thing to become yourself while you are someone to someone else. Yet so often in my patterns, I have compromised growth in favor of the comfort of companionship. Staying in a city, job, or mentality that no longer served me in favor of loyalty. Figuring out who I'm actually doing things for and why, helped me do the next item on this list, and eventually free up some time and worry.

4.  Addressed my guilt

Does it really matter?

With all that we've built into what matters in our lives, a lot can happen when you strip each down to the shape they are. To stare at our shadows like the reflections they are, and address them like a cowboy at a duel to the death.

I lined up all that made me guilty, including my responsibility to a career timeline, Money, relationships, friendships, my dog, my role in my family. The things I want can easily be obstructed by my sense of responsibility; which are also things I want. My mind wanted peace. So, I started asking questions. Interviewing my guilt, if you will. Will these things really change if you go for what you want? Is there a chance it will stay the same? Will the people in your life support your decision? Have you even asked? Will your job support your sabbatical? Have you even asked? If you died tomorrow, what would you feel guilty about? Why? If you went for IT, what would you feel guilty about? Why? Face yourself, free yourself. Live in peace.

5.  Minimalized

When- did this have importance? Will it again? Can I create the importance, then move on? 

What- What can I give? What can I sell? What can I create? What papers are important? What books will be read? What sentimental things at my parents can I release? What clothes are worn?

Something I reflected on during the first few purges and while trying to lighten my load while bikepacking, is that our stuff weighs us down in more ways than one. Each attachment holds its own baggage emotionally and spiritually. Releasing attachments, and the physical possession they embody, to the things that are useful or bring us joy, can reharness one's energy and attention to their life. Possessions become tools in which to live.

6.  Chose the Good Life

 

              I'm still figuring this one out. There's a dichotomy in me where I spend time in a lofty, motivated tone, where I accomplish goals and write blog posts ;). Then I endulge in what I've already addressed as bad for me, maybe a stagnant "stuck" week where I eat comfort food and watch movies. There's a time and place for letting oneself be human, but my dedication to becoming an evolving woman, created a need to avow this to myself. Rearranging habits to apply this vow this year made my goals possible. I still fell (and fall) into endulging in my habitual patterns from time to time, but I return to this more often than not. A bit of yoga and journal writing realigns me right back to higher ground.

7. Imagined it

I once owned a shirt that said, "Imagination is our greatest natural resource". 

There is power in closing your eyes and imagining your ideal day. Call it meditating, manifesting, praying, or the law of attraction, but I've seen my friends' and my own wildest dreams come true through the power of imagination. 

The picture to the left is actually from the beginning of the 2015-2017 journal, but it's one of my favorites. Everything is still true, and I imagine it often. I see it too! 






"What do I want my life to look like?"