Happy 2017!
Can you believe it's January already? I always consider this my "dreaming and scheming" month.
I've had so much going on behind the scenes that I haven't had the mental and emotional energy to blog lately, but I miss coming here and dumping my heart.
My friend Katie has been doing these "If we were having coffee" posts on her blog and I always love hearing what's going on in her life, so I decided what the heck. I'm breaking the blogging seal and writing an update too!
If we were having coffee this week (probably a decaf Americano for me), here's what I'd tell you.
1. I'm so excited for 2017 and I've never felt this optimistic and happy during winter before!
Last year was pretty heavy for lots of reasons, and I spent pretty much the entire the year working on myself. If I had to give 2016 a word, it would be SHIFT because I feel like I finally shifted into alignment with who I'm supposed to be. It took a lot of soul searching and comfort zone blasting.
Now: I feel confident and unbreakable. I feel for the first time in my life that I'm ENOUGH. My anxiety is finally gone and I'm excited for the year ahead instead of overwhelmed!
2. I've decided to choose a "word of the year" instead of setting official NY Resolutions.
I still think resolutions can be good, but I wasn't really feeling them this year because I'm overall really happy with where I'm at and the direction I'm headed. Ben told me, "you don't need resolutions because set goals all the time." Yup, he called me out. I'm a goal junkie. So instead of year-long resolutions, I've decided to choose a word that I can touch back on no matter what happens or where life leads me.
My word of 2017 is OPEN-HEARTED.
Is that 2 words? I don't care.
I chose it because I want to approach each day with courage, optimism, and an open heart.
It sounds simple, but I've realized that for most of my life I've struggled with perfectionism and anxiety, and so my automatic reaction to the world was to close myself off. I was afraid to let myself relax, afraid of failure, and I was constantly comparing myself to other women and stuck in this mindset of "never enough." I'm finally learning how to get out of my head and face life with open arms instead of fear.
I'm realizing that happiness doesn't just come to us - it's an active CHOICE that we have to work towards every single day, especially when shit happens to bring us down (also every single day).
Instead of constantly striving to do more and be more so that I can finally feel "successful" and then be happy, I'm going to work on doing things that make me happy FIRST and trusting that success will follow.
To me, open-hearted means trusting that I'm enough.
- Choosing to be optimistic and assume the best of other people, even if they have different beliefs than me or aren't acting in accordance with my own personal code of integrity. Yeah you know I'm talking politics here.
- Releasing my emotional attachment to the things I have no control over, and being brave enough to face the things I CAN change.
- Pursuing constant growth and asking myself "what can I learn from this" when I feel like I've failed or let myself down.
- EPIC SELF COMPASSION.
- Working on dissolving my upper limits so I can grow in my faith and expand into the infinite space of potential I know surrounds me.
- Making a conscious effort to cultivate gratitude every day and show people how much they mean to me.
- Choosing love over fear as much as I can.
3. I'm not setting official resolutions but you better believe I'm setting some big goals!
Maybe goals and resolutions are the same thing, but to me goals are target outcomes that you work towards all year long, whereas resolutions are intentions or shifts you want to make in your life so you can find your groove (think: Emperor's New Groove!).
I made sooooooo many shifts last year in lots of areas of my life.
It was an amazing year! I became a life coach, traveled all over, soaked in all the success I'd created so far since quitting my job to work full time on my coaching business. I focused on healing my anxiety and building my self confidence, and basically dove headfirst into a year of intense self discovrery. I have no regrets and feel amazing!
But I also know that I can do more and be more. I still feel like I've barely even scratched the surface of my own potential and have super huge visions and dreams for what I want to do and create.
My mom used to tell me "to whom much is given, much is expected" and I take that concept to heart…maybe too seriously at times, but I think it's good to be obsessed with growth and positive change.
Empowered by my new-found confidence and belief in myself, I'm ready to get back to setting big scary goals and crushing them on my own terms so I can keep growing!
I've learned a lot about how to set effective goals and break them down into action steps, and I'm planning to share all of that in a future post. Stay tuned...
So that's a quick run-down of what's new with me right now!
What's new with you?
What are you most excited about this year?
Do you have any big exciting stretch goals?
Let me know in the comments!
xo Anna
