This time of year is so full of contradictions.
January 1 is an actual new calendar year BUT it is also an arbitrary date for starting something new. It simultaneously has a lot of meaning AND no meaning at all, goalwise at least.
I love the idea and the feeling of a ‘fresh start’ on January 1 but I resent the pressure and the implication that I need to become a ‘new me.’ (I happen to like current me and I would like to add more good things to her life.)
I am drawn to creating plans, goals, and systems but I feel overwhelmed by the idea that they all need to start on January 1 (an idea that I reject but it still haunts me.)
I love the idea of big challenges (they help me focus) but I need small, recurring tasks if I want to keep working away at my plans (even though my brain argues with me that the tasks aren’t adding up to anything.)
I want to make a long-term plan so I have everything in place right at the beginning but I know that making a detailed plan means that my brain will overlap the plan with the tasks and file the project away as already complete.
I like having something to work towards but I know that focusing on the process rather than the result is the only way to actually add good things to my life.
For all of these reasons (and because I have zero capacity for planning in December), I usually refer to January as Planuary and use this month to figure out how I want to proceed throughout the year – with fitness, with work, and with everything else.
To prepare for Planuary, I’ve been reading and watching a lot of interesting advice about resolutions, goals, and the like.
And since you might also be in the space of contradictions and Planuary and figuring things out, I thought I would share some of the stuff I have found:
Here’s Jessica McCabe from How to ADHD with some advice about accountability. She’s mostly talking to people with ADHD but I’m sure there’s useful stuff for everyone in here:
Karin Nordin. Ph.D., from Body Brain Alliance has some interesting suggestions in this video about how to experiment with your goals before deciding whether to take them on. She suggests this approach as a December experiment but it could work as a Planuary experiment, too.
I really enjoyed this reflection from Kate C. Bowler on Instagram about how we can proceed imperfectly.
And this Instagram post from Kaitlin Curtice is ALL about the contradictions of this time of year.
And I like how this post from Dr. Kristin Neff brings self-compassion and values into the conversation about our plans for the year ahead.
So, with all of this information (and more!) at hand, I am ambling into January/Planuary with the idea of taking things day by day while I figure out the big and small pictures of how I want to expand and enhance (and simplify and streamline) my life in 2025.
AND, as I have been doing for the past few years, I will be writing a daily Go Team post to encourage you (and me!) to be kind to ourselves as we figure things out.
Whether you have your plans in place or whether you are ambling along with me, I hope you’ll keep me company along the way.
This isn’t exactly a Go Team post but it also kind of is, so here is our gold star for our efforts – our efforts to figure things out, our efforts to be at ease with what we haven’t figured out, and our efforts to be kind to ourselves either way.
