Thanks, 2022. Hello, 2023!
The new year is here! I hope you enjoyed some down time with family and friends over the past several weeks and are feeling refreshed and inspired to make 2023 your best year yet.
My family and I created time to ski the slopes of New Hampshire together. While our kids took ski lessons, it felt spacious and peaceful to intentionally pause at the top of the mountain and enjoy the view of Lake Winnipesaukee with my husband, Jarrad. I found myself reflecting on the past 12 months, things that went the way I intended them to go and things that did not, moments of celebration and moments of heartbreak. This set the stage for me to dedicate time for a more thorough year-end review and to set intentions for the coming year upon arriving home.
I invite you to join me in this year-end review and year-ahead intention setting practice. I am offering you two ways to say goodbye and thank you to 2022, and set the stage for a 2023 that is as exquisite as you want it to be.
YearCompass
I recently learned about YearCompass which you can download for free here. This is a fantastic tool which gives you an easy-to-use framework for reviewing the past year and preparing for the year ahead. All you need to do is create time and space to complete the exercise and come to it with an open mind and an open heart.
I recommend meditating before beginning YearCompass. Don’t have a favorite go-to meditation? You can use the 5 Minute Meditation I recorded on Soundcloud here. If you don’t have a regular meditation practice already, I also encourage you to incorporate one into your life as part of your 2023 plan. Ten Percent Happier and Waking Up are two meditation apps I use regularly and highly recommend. Both offer a 7-day free trial.
2. A Letter to Yourself in 2024
If YearCompass is too structured for your liking, another option is to pretend it is January 3rd, 2024, and you are reflecting on the past year. Write a letter to yourself acknowledging all the amazing things you’ve accomplished in 2023. While this is your free-form opportunity to craft this look-back anyway you’d like, here are a few prompts to help you jump-start this activity:
What is something you’ve thought about doing more than 3 times but are scared to say out loud or put on paper because you are afraid you might not successfully complete it? (In other words, what would you do if you knew you could not fail?)
What do you need to let go of to create the life you want?
How will you celebrate your successes, big and small?
What will you do to reset when you get off track?
Read it on the same day you write it one year later, celebrate your accomplishments and reflect on what you learned along the way!
Let’s get going!
Commit to completing YearCompass or the letter to yourself in 2024 by one week from today, January 10th.
Remember: dream big! This is your life. What do you want to create?
Lastly, I’ll leave you with this poem to ponder as you go about your year-end reflection:
AT THE END OF THE YEAR
As this year draws to its end,
We give thanks for the gifts it brought
And how they became inlaid within
Where neither time nor tide can touch them...
Days when beloved faces shone brighter
With light from beyond themselves;
And from the granite of some secret sorrow
A stream of buried tears loosened.
We bless this year for all we learned,
For all we loved and lost
And for the quiet way it brought us
Nearer to our invisible destination.
- JOHN O'DONOHUE
Would you like some support to get clear on your dreams and to turn them into your reality? Reach out to me at nicole@leadwithbliss.com.
