If you have been following along for awhile now, you may recall, New Year’s resolutions aren’t really for me. I’m a big goal setter, but I like them to come a bit more organically throughout the year and have never felt good about the pressure of an arbitrary January 1st start date to redesign my life.

Instead, I like to enter a new year doing a lot of reflecting on the past year and noticing all of the ways I have grown, failed, loved, smiled, learned and nourished myself and others. I look for ways I can improve and select a ‘word of intention’ for the upcoming year; a mantra I can anchor goals to and reflect on when I am wrestling with a problem or decision. I write the word everywhere – on post-its, on my screensaver, on almost every journal page – a constant reminder of my commitment to this touchstone word and the value I want it to have in my life.

While re-reading past journal entries and speaking with a few friends, I realized something rather sad about 2021 – I spent a lot of time just waiting. “Let’s just wait and see what happens” became my response to most opportunities that came my way. I disguised this feeling as merely being grateful for what I already had, and content with the insulated small world I had created (don’t get me wrong – there is immense gratitude in that), but I think I was afraid to dream for anything more in 2021.

Plans kept changing and I was tired of constantly having to pivot. I was languishing and always felt like I was holding my breathe waiting for the next piece of news which would upend all my best-laid plans. Committing to anything meant being prepared for possible disappointment. I stayed small. I didn’t strive for more. I existed. I got through. It was a bummer. 

So I’m regrouping and I think I have a strong word for 2022. It’s the mantra that will guide my goals and all actions for the next year. I am living 2022 with a renewed sense of PURPOSE. I’m setting some seriously audacious goals that will test and better me. I am dreaming bigger than I ever have, both professionally and personally. I am doing everything with a deep sense of PURPOSE and drive. I am framing every goal and dream around my bigger PURPOSE in this life – and it’s not to merely to ‘get through’ it.

I am reminding myself that life doesn’t come at you, life comes from you.

Do you set a New Year’s resolution? Do you have a word carrying you into 2022? You know I love hearing from you.

xo mm