New Beginnings

Hello 2023! I officially started this blog in November last year and it was a leap. I’ve been thinking about a blog for over a decade but I never took the brave step…until then. I started off by republishing some content I had written for other sites (with links to the originals). Now, I will be sharing new and exclusive content and I may republish some of my older stuff if it is relevant.

For this first blog of 2023 I would like to share my hopes for this year. Mainly to keep me accountable and so I can reflect on this at the end of the year and see how I can do better in 2024.

Let’s keep it simple. My three main goals/hopes are:

1. Find balance in everything I do

2. Heal

3. Accept that mistakes are okay 

Balance

I feel like balance is something most of us struggle with; whether it’s standing on a bosu ball in the gym or trying to juggle life and work. A friend of mine says balance between life and work doesn’t exist because “work is life is work is life…”. While I don’t love the idea of work being my whole life, he makes a great point: we can’t compartmentalise work and life so they are separate. We need to find a way for the two to co-exist…because work and life do co-exist. Life doesn’t stop so you can work and vice versa. So, for this year I want to find a healthier way to “balance” the two – find a happy way in which the two co-exist but I don’t feel like I’m ripped between things on opposite sides. 

Healing

I think it’s imperative to frequently set aside time to heal. Sometimes our society gets caught up in healing from major losses like death but we also suffer smaller losses and we often need to heal from those too. In my case, I need to heal from the passing of someone incredibly close to me – her passing is the hardest I have ever had to deal with and I have dealt with some tough deaths in the past. Besides her being gone, there’s so much her passing signifies. So, this year I want to focus on healing. I want to begin a habit of frequently finding time to heal…from the big stuff and the small stuff which often ends up being bigger than I thought. I want to heal so I can move forward stronger and better.

Accepting mistakes

We all make mistakes. It’s an inevitable part of being human. I know I make them and I accept that. Sort of. I find that some mistakes are easier to accept than others. Sometimes, I’m so terrified of making a mistake I cannot make the move in the first place or I take so long thinking of ways to avoid a mistake that it takes me years to make a move. This blog is the perfect example: I was – and am – so terrified of making a mistake it has taken me years to start it. So, my final hope for 2023 is that I will learn to be okay when I do make mistakes because accepting that I will make mistakes can free up the space – that shame takes up – to find better solutions.