Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and your year is off to a great start.
Towards the end of December, I mentioned that I was feeling very overwhelmed. I had made a lot of major decisions in the Fall about the kind of life I want to live, but I had yet to implement them. There were a lot of things that I was doing, some out of routine to just keep going, that really didn’t need doing at all. And that contributed to my overwhelm. I’ve taken the time to pause what I was doing, for the most part, to figure out what really needed to be done. In my last post, I talked about seeking God in “my” plans for the year and He has definitely answered.
During that time, I came across a planner that helped to guide me through all of that. It emphasizes mindful planning. This basically means discovering your values and creating goals and plans that prioritizes these values. So, not so much doing “all the things”, but taking a balanced approach to accomplish meaningful goals without burnout. The planner is by a Canadian company called Hemlock and Oak. They’re currently sold out of the 2021 planner but have a digital option as well as various printables to try.
With regards to the blog, I’ve taken all this time to figure out what it is exactly that I want to do, what’s important and in line with my purpose, and then to create an actual plan for that. I think, in the past, that this has been something I did when I had the time. So, I wasn’t very intentional about doing it well. One important change I’ve made is I deleted my Instagram account at the end of the year. It was a major consumer of my time, and is just too fast-paced and overwhelming for me in general.
I also made some changes to the blog to simplify it, remove some of the maintenance, so that I could focus on just writing. The ETSY shop is temporarily closed but I’m planning to have it back up soon. And the YouTube channel will continue to be a place where I share my journey.
I’m currently taking a course online called The Science of Well-being. It was recommended by a close friend of mine as we often talk about wellness. The course looks at recent studies in psychological science to learn how we can be happier, feel less stressed, and essentially thrive. Part of the course involves putting what we learn into practice and building habits that will lead to a happier, more fulfilling life. This has become like weekly wellness challenges for me.
I’m currently on the third week. The first week had to do with discovering our strengths and being intentional about using them. Week 2 was about practicing gratitude, and savouring (which is about being present and attentive in the things we’re doing). This week, the challenge is to perform random acts of kindness and make social connections. The course itself is free, I’ve found it very interesting so far. I’ve linked it above if you’d like to check it out.
Here’s to an amazing year of intentionally living out our purposes in 2021!
