Nearly all of us have made New Years resolutions only to watch them fizzle out before February. The end of the year can stir up all kinds of feelings. Whether your year was filled with great change, new additions to your family or maybe your year was filled with setbacks or grief, or maybe like most of us, a little of both. Sometimes it can be hard to look back and try to set goals especially if maybe your goals haven’t changed much. I love reflecting on the year, and thinking about what I want to take forward with me into the new year, but the idea of making resolutions is kinda bleh. A few years ago I was listening to a podcast where they shared the idea of instead of making resolutions creating a list for the year (20 for 2020, 21 for 2021 etc). Often times resolutions don’t strike us as fun things, although they certainly could be. The list is a way to reframe resolutions. You can fill your list with anything you want. Maybe it’s a list of 22 recipes to try this year, or 22 hikes. Or maybe it’s a list of half fun half tasks. They even suggest leaving a few spaces blank so you can fill it out with throughout the year when you get inspired. I personally like to fill my lists with some fun things, a few larger goals for the year, and easy things that I’ve been putting off but that can be crossed off in a day. The goal isn’t necessarily to get every single thing crossed off the list. It’s more just about thinking of what you’d like to accomplish in the year and adding some whimsy! I figured I would share both my 2021 & 2022 lists to give some inspiration!
21 in 2021
Take the boys to the snow!Go to the dentist– did this with 8 days left in the year!Night away with ChrisTake the boys to the beachMeditate / gratitude dailyTake Will on day dates(I want to do more of this in 2022 – we only did a handful of these this year)- Read 10 books (currently reading book # 10)
Create 2020 photo bookHoliday photo frames- Get family photos taken – had these scheduled but bad weather had us cancelled. 2022!!
Swim lessons for WillHave a spring gardenGet vaccinatedHost at our houseRedo boys closets- Find a PCP
Go to YosemiteLess than 5 hours screentime / dayGet Johnathans birth certificateHike LimeRidge– This was a 2020 roll over! Made it happen this year.- Overnight BFF trip – This did not happen this year but will happen in 22!
22 in 2022
- Get family photos taken
- Read 12 books
- Trip to NYC
- Build a neighborhood free little library
- Day dates with boys
- Switch to clean makeup
- Run a 5k
- Go to the dermatologist
- Find a PCP
- Do 3 Day Refresh
- Get pictures off old macbook
- Do a 30 minute meditation monthly
- Take boys to Tilden / BADM 3x
- Plan and Plant a spring / summer garden
- Pay off mazda
- Take Juno on weekly walks
- Make an album of now
- Paint master bath / add shelving
- Take a social media Sabbath each week
- Go to a National Park
- Try therapy
- Shiplap entry way
I’d love to know how the ending of a year makes you feel? Do you enjoy reflecting on the year? Is it hard to come up with resolutions? Or do you take a spin on resolutions and do something whimsy filled like a fun list?
I think most of our lives are more complex than just “good year” “bad year”. 2021 for me was filled with seeing more family, getting to take our boys on adventures, finding a new world of calm and presence through meditation. Turning inward and looking at barriers and old wounds that are holding be back from being the happiest version of myself. There were also moments of grief and struggle. We lost my cousin this year. And in October I laid with my son in a hospital bed for 70 hours while doctors decided if he needed to go to the ICU. None of us are immune to the sorrow that life will inevitably throw at us, but we are capable of looking for light & allowing that light to come in. I’m always brought back to a quote by Milan Kundera from his book The Unbearable Lightness of Being “The heavier the burden the closer, the closer our lives become to the earth, the more real and truthful they become. Conversely, the absolute absence of burden causes man to be lighter than air, to soar into heights, take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only half real, his movements as free as they are insignificant. what then shall we choose? Weight or lightness”. No matter what 2021 brought to you, I hope you are able to find light & take that light in 2022 with you!
Cheers to a New Year! Oh & if you make a list I’d LOVE to see it!
East Bay Mama 