One of the greatest feelings is slipping into bed with fresh, clean, crisp new sheets. And so it is with the clean sheet of a new year. A whole 365 days where we get to do better. Be better. Feel better.
We can deliberately start afresh and draw a line under what’s been. Consign ignominious failures to the past. Stride out confidently into a new year unsullied by previous baggage. That New Year crisp clean sheet feeling is hard to beat.
I thought I would create a series for you to implement this year, 18 strategies to set your 2018 on fire. One a week to ponder, to implement, to integrate so that we get to Easter feeling progress has been made and things have most definitely been done.
Layering progress up each week in a gradual rising tide of wellbeing, rather than self-starting 25 well-intentioned resolutions that have all fallen over by Anniversary Weekend.
The process of expansion is part of the human condition, to want to be content but still have that desire to expand, progress, reach for more. And the fact of the matter is we fall into a really common trap, especially at this time of year.
We want different, we really do, but we approach getting it in the same way that we have failed to get it in the past. We start the same diet or exercise or meditation routine with familiar high hopes only to have it fizzle out just like last year. And the year before.
If you want different, you gotta do different. And to do different you have to think different. And to think different — that takes new strategies being applied with consistency.
It’s choosing the new path over the default, which is easy when there is that rush of new year enthusiasm and we are all rested and relaxed at the bach, but is considerably more challenging when we are back in the routine of the 9 to 5 and the pick-ups and early starts and it’s raining and we can’t get a park.
So, we are going to step through 18 strategies together that will stretch and challenge you in 2018 — but not so much that you don’t have time to put them in place. Small but powerful steps forward.
Each week we will layer them up so you can implement them as we go. It might be something to do. Something to think. Something to say. Feel free to buy yourself a journal to accompany the series, so you can make notes or track your progress. If you ask me nicely I will also make the series into a downloadable e-book for you at the end, so you will have it for easy reference.
One final note before we kick off 18 ways to set your 2018 on fire in mind, body and spirit: if your media feed is anything like mine it’s already crammed with ads trilling “New Year! New You!” I’d just like to say for the record: you absolutely don’t need a “new you”. The you you are is perfectly imperfect.
Committing to an evolving you? Fantastic. A you expanding with personal growth and insight? Bring it on. You, actively creating more health and happiness? Yell to the yes. An expanding, evolving you: I am absolutely down with that. But a “new you”? I don’t buy into that at all.
It is heavy with the implication that you now, the “old you” is somehow broken, and I don’t dig that in any way. We are all the sum of what’s past, and we start from where we are with what we have.
We are all works in progress and continue to evolve, and anyone who implies you are broken in some way is doing you a disservice and/or trying to sell you something you probably don’t need by cunningly triggering the “not good enough” hot button.
Step away, and step forward instead. The you you are is imperfectly perfect, and ready for more: which is exactly how it should be. Bring on 2018. I have a feeling it’s going to be a great one.
Through her online Happiness programme “Wellbeing Warriors”, life coach Louise Thompson helps people unlock their happiest and healthiest life. Sign up at louisethompson.com and find more from Louise at bite.co.nz/wellbeing