Happy new year!
If you are like many (myself included), you are happy to see 2020 be gone, and you have a lot of ideas, hopes, and dreams for this new year. Part of my ritual that starts around the winter solstice and bleeds just into the new year is to take a while to do an inventory of my life of the previous year, all I have accomplished, what I’m grateful for as well as what I hope the new year holds. While I have specific goals in each area, I also come up with a word of the year for each. (You can read more on my word of the year and my specific reflections in my newsletter here - be sure to sign up to receive my occasional newsletter right in your inbox.)
One of the things that has to happen in order for us to achieve these goals in the new year is prioritization. I have a lot of things I want to accomplish this year, and also a lot of things I enjoy. So how do I decide what to focus on first?
There’s a myriad of different ways to prioritize, but my favorite way is to get underneath my prefrontal cortex and all of the things my brain things I “should” do, and listen instead to what my spirit really wants to do.
For example, I love to workout. I love yoga, I love to run, I love to lift weights, and I love to dance. If I use the executive function of my brain, and also what society tells me is good, I will do this a lot. Because health is a priority, and I enjoy exercise, and society tells me these are good things, it can be super easy to let this particular category dominate. (If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that for the past two years it has, running my first 50k in November 2019 to running 50 miles this past October.)
But if I give myself the opportunity to sit down and quiet, my spirit tells me that, while exercise is something important and crucial and necessary for my life, what I really want now is to write.
That means that, despite the fact that I would happily spend 3+ hours today moving my body, I know that 30-60 minutes is enough. In that extra time, I will write (or work on one of my other big goals for this year).
Prioritization is discipline. It’s taking a good inventory of everything that is important, both in your brain and in your spirit, and deciding how to spend your time accordingly.
For all of my perfectionists, this comes with some news: you cannot do everything. You cannot do everything and you certainly cannot do everything perfectly. If you were to take optimal care of your health, finances, relationships, spirit, home, etc., you would legitimately do nothing else but self care.
So, what are you holding on to that you can let go of? Or, where can you do something a little less perfectly?
For me, it’s swapping out hours on the trails and a daily yoga practice for just enough movement each day, so I can also write (and, fingers crossed, finally remodel the kitchen this year).
Let me know in the comments what your SPIRIT wants, and what you’re willing to let go of to follow that.
(Side note: you can borrow my word of the year of FAITH if that makes you a little bit terrified.)
Lots of love and happy new year!
A priority for everyone.