A slow January

How was your Christmas and New Year? I hope you got all the rest and nourishment you needed.

Mine was very different to the Christmases I’m used to as it with my first Christmas with my dad. I keep joking that I got a dad for Christmas this year but it’s true. Reconnecting with the dad I never knew has been life changing, disorientating and at times overwhelming but spending Christmas together was a childhood fantasy come true.

January came around soon enough and now we’re all taking our first steps into 2021. My days are filled with book writing and trying not to spiral into how on earth am I supposed to write 50,000 to 70,000 words meltdowns. This time of year has caused me more stress and anxiety over the years than any other. The pressure to set goals, reinvent ourselves, start fresh and generally inflate our expectations to the point where all we’ll experience is failure in return is the trend that never dies - unless we kill it. 

And kill it we can.

Last year I decided to take the whole of January to merely settle into the year. With twelve whole months to live through it made sense to take at least one to get comfortable, have a good think and prepare. The results were interesting. 

I really enjoyed the time and space I gave myself to reflect on the last twelve months and think about the next twelve. I also felt a lot less pressure to set unrealistic goals and intentions. The more time I gave myself to think the more space I created to dive into what it was I truly wanted out of the year. This was a welcomed change from feeling pressured to set the goals I thought I should be setting off the back of all the new year new me content going around. 

January is naturally a quiet time when our bank balances are depleted, the nights are long and not that much seems to be happening. I realised this is the ideal time to lean into the space and magic that quiet has to offer. The less we rush, the less pressure we’re under and the calmer we feel.

Here’s what I’ll be doing this January to set myself up for 2021, in no rush whatsoever. 

Create a vision board - As a visual person I can’t help but love a vision board. The process takes me back to the days when I used to create collages on the cardboard inside my high school art folder for all to see. This year I’m thinking about going digital so I can use Pinterest as my source of inspiration and have the final result as my laptop wallpaper. I outlined my vision board process in this vlog if you’re not sure how to get started.

Choose a word for the year - Through trial and error I’ve come to love this ritual. Having a word to guide me through the year has had my back on many occasions. It’s a gentle alternative to goal setting too. This year I struggled to choose between two words - abundance and enough, but I settled on enough in the end. Reading the definition as much or as many as required reassured me this was everything I needed to lean into this year. I’m hoping it’s a word that will allow me to submerge myself in trusting in enough whilst also leaving my scarcity mindset behind me.

Susannah Conway’s Unravel Your Year workbook - I’ve worked through Susannah’s book for the last couple of years and it’s become something of a tradition. I absolutely adore it. There’s some tarot in there too (for which you don’t need to own a deck). It’s one of the best free resources available on the internet. It’s also a great guide to helping you choose a word of the year if you’re not sure where to start.

Have you been making plans and setting goals or intentions yet? Are you a slow starter like me or hurtling ahead? I’m cheering you on to do whatever brings you the most peace and calm.