We often limit our new beginnings to the first of the year, first of the month. Ironically, I’m starting again on a Monday, but hey, it works. All the rules are made up. It’s been nearly three years since I last published anything here. My drafts contain unpublished pieces from 2019 and I’m about three 40-minute episodes into a show while writing this.
Some things have not changed — my work as a school counselor, running the after school program, living where I live. Some hobbies have taken a back seat, but I have managed to keep several houseplants alive, which feels like a small victory in adulthood
How many times have we said we’ll finally become “that person”? We get to December 31st with hope in our hearts, dedication and discipline on our minds with our planners, vision boards, new notebooks and pens (we = me). A part of us is tired of the way things are and want to be that version of ourselves that has got our $#it together. We start out really strong, but before we can get to the end of Q1, some of it becomes too much and welp, mid year, it feels like we’re starting back at one.
How do you break that cycle? Begin again. When you complete the 75 Hard Challenge, one of the rules is that if you miss a day, you have to start back at day one, even if you were on Day 74. Starting over isn’t a bad thing. It is a hard thing, for sure, but everything is hard!
Everything is hard.
Waking up at 5 a.m. is hard.
Staying in bed is hard.
Living one way while wishing you were living another is hard.
If everything is hard, choose the hard that moves you toward the life you want.
Another reason why it gets so easy for us to fall off because sometimes we don’t change the right things in our systems to help us stay on track. We’re getting up at 5am, but not going to bed until midnight or later. Decision fatigue steals 10-15 minutes each morning we stand in the closet unsure about what to wear because we didn’t take time the night before picking out the following day’s outfit.
I go back to work in two weeks, so as I prepare to begin again, I’m thinking about the things I want to begin again to bring back peace and balance to my life.
Things I’m Beginning Again
- Witting: journaling, prayers, blogging. All of it. Clearing my heart and mind and leaving it all on paper.
- Reading physical books, one or a two chapters at a time until I can rebuild my stamina for it.
- Seasonal/quarterly bucket lists: Not only will it give me more things to plan and look forward to, it will give me things to fill my notebooks with and things to blog about.
- Adding more whimsy to my life – making the fun drinks with the citrus garnishes, taking more walks, sitting on my porch as the day begins.
We like to think that the new person we want to be happens overnight. That when we wake up on January 1st, that we’re going to get that update and well magically be US2.0. But we know that’s not going to happen. Instead, we just have to wake up and decide that today is good enough a day to take the first step.
A Note To Self:
This week, begin one thing you’ve been waiting to begin. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be—-gun. I’d love to hear what you’re beginning agin.
Life of Neu 