You're admirably working through your post-Christmas fiction pile…
And juggling catch-ups with old friends…
Forgetting what day of the week it is…
And then you’re flicking through Facebook admiring people’s summer holiday pics and plates of food and camping dramas and BAM: you’re hit with a barrage of gung-ho promises from coaches and trainers about how to create your BEST YEAR YET, kick goals and transform your LIFE!
You tried that stuff last year. You set goals in good faith and can’t actually remember what half of them were now, because 2014 butted its realistic head in and tipped a bulging toolbox full of spanners into the works.
Instead of slam-dunking accomplishments left, right and centre, you found yourself gripping on for dear life, responding to circumstances beyond your control and, even worse — circumstances within your control that you messed up. Some of it really wasn’t pretty…
So you’re not going to fall for the fairytale that January changes everything. Because it doesn’t.
There’s a delicious temptation to overhaul the lot and start afresh, and lurking behind that is the fear that you’re going to fail. Again.
We get it.
We’ve also tried the ‘Best Year Yet’ stuff as coaches and found that it works. For some people.
Others understand the usefulness of setting proper goals and writing them down and yaaawn, …can someone pass the latest Marian Keyes… something that rigid reminds you of the staff strategy meeting at work.
If you fall into the latter category, we’d love to chat with you.
January can be a time of renewal and renewed focus. It can be a time to dream and hope and plan.
But we think it should be a gentle process, wrapped in self-compassion — where you set yourself up to thrive despite the extent to which your plans may be de-railed.
Between the two of us and our closest family and friends, we dealt with a lot in 2014. Big, life-battering stuff:
- Family and friends with Leukaemia x2
- Family marriage breakup
- Friend’s suicide
- Family dementia and depression
- Family job loss
- Financial pressure
- Friend’s sudden paralysis
It was a cruel and harsh year and it just seemed to keep giving as it went along, delivering one shock after another and seeing us scramble our wits to keep up.
But keep up we did, and we came through stronger. More resilient. Wiser — and with a greater sense of gratitude for the things that went right alongside the turmoil.
It helped us re-evaluate what matters most. Re-commit. It helped us revive and recalibrate.
We’re not who we were this time last year. We’ve been sculpted through the knocks and chips and mistakes and bumps and we’re clearer on how we want to enter 2015. And it’s nothing like the way we’ve traditionally done it, with lists and ideas and carefully-crafted roadmaps.
If you have a spare time-slot between devouring novels and social engagements, we’d love you to listen in on our free 40-minute podcast so we can tell you more. |
