People - I am sorry, I thought I published this on December 28th.....so currently it's four days late. Nevertheless, if you haven't spent time reflecting on the year that was 2015 why not do it now.....
While it’s common practice to starting thinking about goals for the coming year as we approach it, it’s also a great time to reflect on the year that’s passed.
We are all so busy with the day to day of life, it’s easy to lose sight of our accomplishments and experiences. And in doing so, it’s easy to miss the big picture. While this flies in the face of my life mantra of living in the present moment, it also doesn’t. Because the kind of reflecting I’m talking about, purposely evokes feeling good in the here and now. And we all deserve a piece of that.
With a few days to go in 2015, it’s time to grab a pen and paper (or a laptop) and invest some time into your good self. It’s an investment because it’s going to pay happy dividends. And it will provide inspiration as you think about creating a 2016 for yourself that is meaningful and down right awesome.
First list first! What are the ten+ things you are most proud of achieving in 2015? These don’t need to be big box checking things. In fact, sometimes it’s the less obvious things that matter most. To get your juices flowing, I’m going to give you a couple of mine;
- I achieved credit card debt freedom (please be advised that this is a first for me!)
- I opened my heart to love – deep but very true. It was painful at times but ultimately important in my own journey of life.
Other thought provokers for you; How did you treat people? What did you offer of yourself to help others? Did you study? Was it a good work year? Did you travel much? How did you go on last year’s resolutions? What about physical challenges? Emotional ones? Work on yourself? In what ways did you grow?
Number two; What were the ten+ most powerful moments in your year. When did you feel your heart soar? Two of mine;
- Walking towards my whole family on Waikiki beach on December 19th, 2015. I was tired and grumpy (jetlag!) but nothing couldn’t dampen the power of the emotion I felt as my nieces and nephews ran toward me and my mother squeezed me as hard as she ever has in my life.
- I got an email from one of the leaders of my company after I’d missed our holiday party (I was on a flight returning from a work trip). It said, last night you were hot topic of conversation. Yvette your team love you and I quote “I love Yvette, I’m learning so much from her”. I could not get the smile off my face as I read it. I actually read it out to the people I was standing next to at the time. I have to say it was the second half that really made me happy. Love is awesome of course, but helping others be more awesome is even better.
How about you? What were those special moments that mattered? Why did they matter?
List number three – what were the five+ experiences that made you feel most alive this year? A couple from me;
- Gabby Bernsteins Spirit Junkie Masterclass is right up there. A weekend spent with like minded people where I was moved to tears on multiple occasions. And thoroughly inspired.
- Another whole weekend of awesome – the ACL festival as a VIP guest. Gratitude in spades for this once in a lifetime opportunity. Most importantly, it reawakened my passion for music and seeing it live.
List four – OK so this one wont be quite so uplifting but it’s important. Think about the lessons you learned this year. What are the five+ lessons that you are going to make sure are burned into your subconscious as you move forward? Some inspiration from moi;
- When it comes to matters of the heart, it’s important to avoid picking the scab. What I meant by that is, let yourself heal. Avoid doing things that bring nothing but pain, reopening the wound. (tis true that I am not perfect on this front which is why I thought of it first).
- I am my happiest version of me when I am looking after myself with the utmost care. When I eat well, sleep well, avoid alcohol and invest time into emotional and physical wellbeing practices. Not rocket science but doing the Whole 30 certainly reminded me of this.
Finally, rather than a list this one is a collection. We all take more photo’s than ever before in history with our smartphones being camera’s 24/7. I personally am a photography machine! I literally took thousands of photo’s in 2015. Spend some time picking out ten photos taken by you, that best move you and depict how you lived your life this year. Yes just ten, this I is meant to be hard, because your year was probably far better than you realized until now!
To finish I know I’ve been vacant here for the longest time since I launched this site. I’ve been on vacation with my family for the past 9 days. I expected to continue blogging through that period. I did not do so. Once I landed in Hawaii (and caught up on some sleep), I realized that all I wanted to do was be in the present moment with my family. To bask in their company. To play games, snorkel and sing with my favorite kids. Sure I did a lot of instagraming. Because I couldn’t stop capturing the special moment after moment as the trip unfolded. My email however was neglected. My blog forgotten about. Thoughts of my day job dissolved. I thoroughly relaxed.
Here’s hoping you managed to shut down completely and enjoy your friends and family too. And if you’re still in the thick of doing just that maybe hold off on the lists for a little bit? The holidays will pass and New Years Day is just another day. But be it now or a little bit down the track though, do take the time out to reflect. Enjoy the process, feel good about all that living you’ve done. Only you know the depth of challenges you faced along the way. But you did it. You survived another year of being uniquely you. I bet you even prospered.
