Hello 2022!

Welcome to 2022.

This year is set to be filled with opportunity, joy and laughter. I’m choosing this year to look for the positive and seek out small moments of happiness and gratitude.

I started the year with my favourite person, connecting with my best friend who came home from America for the first time in three years and also spent time with my family!

At the beginning of each year I take some time for deep reflection. I consider what has happened over the previous 12 months, go over my written goals see what I have achieved, what happened unexpectedly and assess the things I failed to complete. Following this, I then dream up and write down where I intend to head in the year ahead.

To be honest with you all though, how I personally reflect and plan for the year ahead has been a little different this year. I’ve lacked motivation and finding a sense of joy in looking forward to what this year will bring. I have some ideas and plans for (in a perfect world), what I would like to transpire over the coming year. However, with the current state of the world it’s becoming so taxing to set goals that can be unachievable due to the unknown with the pandemic.

What do you put down when you are not sure whether travel can be an option, loved ones that you’d like to visit don’t know if they can do so and even business goals that I have set in the past are somewhat unpredictable due to changing circumstances. To be honest, it’s left me feeling a little flat and I’m sure I’m not the only one feeling this way.

I have had multiple conversations with some of my good friends about it, trying to understand if others feel the same sense of lack of hope! For everyone who knows me well, I dream big, wild and love achieving the impossible. It lights me up, guides me to the next stage of where I am heading and keeps me on track. In the past twelve months though, so much changed - all of which was largely out of my control. It’s left me feeling exhausted and somewhat defeated.

So for me, this year is all about regaining passion. It’s almost a reboot. If the last 2 years are anything to go by, there is so much you can’t control, however by being present and noticing what ignites passion, you are able to follow the path that brings the most joy to your life. I’m opening the year up to the unknown, the unimagined, the undreamed of. It’s nerve raking, liberating and exciting.

As 2022 begins, I am already seeing that attitude be rewarded.

For the last 4 months of 2021, I made some significant changes within one of my company’s and changed 50% of the income stream. This decision came with ease but it was something I sat on for a long time, making sure I was 100% sure before I put the decision into action. I informed everyone, with some backlash (as expected). I can reason everything and my why, but it hasn’t been until we have stepped into 2022 that my staff and clients are now truly understanding why I made the decisions I did. Trusting my intuition and knowledge as well as sense of trust in the unknown has paid off.

This captured my attention not long after I chose to let go of all my in-depth planning and goal setting in January. I can’t plan for, predict or write down everything that will happen in 365 days at the start of the year. These moments and big decisions, are as a result of the constant change. Not in my wildest dreams did I think I would end where I am today at the start of 2021 but for that I am very grateful.

Not writing my yearly goals has given me permission to be ok with how I am choosing to start this year. It is not what I was planning (I had my paper, favourite coloured pens and everything ready to go on the day), I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. However, I am happy. I am excited for what the year has to offer. I am wanting to be surprised. You never know, some of my biggest dreams could come to fruition this year? Or maybe some may happen that I haven’t even dreamt up yet. And that is what 2022 is for me this year.

How did you start 2022? Was it the same or different to how you start each year?

This may very well be a year again of forgoing personal plans and dreams due to a situation out of our control. One where career and business goals are often pivoting and being reworked as we navigate our new normal.

So let go of the traditional lists and let it be. Live and seek out your passions. Be present and spend time with those you love. Instead of setting the big goals this year, try even writing small daily or weekly goals and control when you can in the moment.

You never know.. this could be the year that some of your wildest dreams come true…