INTENTION | 03 for 2023
Most years, I start with a comprehensive list of everything I want to accomplish in the year ahead: travel, projects, goals and more. The success or failure of that year is measured by the number of items I can scratch off that list. A ridiculous idea since the list is formulated from the perspective of not knowing what the year will throw at me. That said, most years, my lists have lists. The key to personal success has always been tied to productivity. It’s a false metric, but one used just the same to perpetuate a system built on winning and losing. Ah, scorekeeping. So consistently soul-crushing.
This year, I’m tapping out of that game. Instead of an exhaustive 23 for 2023 list (annually inspired by Gretchen Rubin), I’m simply going to focus on THREE things in 2023:
Make healthy choices. If it’s not healthy (mentally, emotionally, or physically), it’s a hard no. (Note: deprivation of any kind is a hard no, too.)
Show up and consistently do what feels right for me every day. Dare to ask for more. Accept what I cannot change. Feel more que sera sera. Live in gratitude and appreciation.
Fill my days with only those people, places, projects, and things that light me up. Spark joy, if you will.
If I follow those three steps, I’ll allow myself to write toward the completion of my shitty first draft; I will move more and allow energy to move through me in order to lose the weight in an effort to feel better; and, I will manifest the life I want to live. Write. Move. Manifest. Those are my priority results for 2023. I am open to be surprised, too!
Early last year, I participated in Marie Forleo’s “Time Genius,” course, and the most important thing I learned is something I already knew to my bones: there’s always time for what’s most important. Here I am, at 58, with my kids grown and flown, two silly Labradoodles, and a warm and inviting home. I’m working on improving my health, surrounding myself with lovely and supportive friends, and adjusting to all the potential available in my future. I have all the time in the world for the first time in … ever. What am I going to do with it? For years I’ve felt it important to fill every spare moment of my day with something productive, tangible, and useful. You can’t squander time! (In my youth, there would have been some reference to “sin” in that admonition.)
I intend to boldly approach every challenge and opportunity that meets my spark joy criteria with curiosity and an enthusiastic “yes.”
From my perspective, I’ve had a highly productive life. I’ve given all I have to others, usually with little argument. As the result of a radical epiphany earlier this year, going forward, at least for 2023, I will give all I have to myself. That will start with permitting myself to be my complete, complicated, authentic self. In one of my many courses, the leader was fond of saying, “we are human beings, not human doings” and even though I’ve understood the concept, I never practiced it. This year I’m going to practice allowing things (including me) to be.
I’ll still have lists - things still need to get done! (And, truly, a Virgo is always a Virgo.) But I will not participate in challenges or courses that no longer bring me joy only because I’ve “always done them.”