This year, I’m keeping things simple. In the past, I’ve been all about setting tons of goals, checking stuff off, and working towards things. But back in December, when I started thinking about what goals I wanted to set for myself in 2017, I just felt tired. Looking at my list of goals from last year felt a little exhausting and a lot discouraging, because it made me feel like I “had failed” because I hadn’t checked everything off the list. The last thing I want to do is create more standards to measure myself up against and subsequently “fail” at!
That’s not to say that I don’t want to try new things and feel a sense of progress this year, it just means that I want to do it with a different kind of energy. The idea of hustling and striving and obligation is just not sitting right with me at the moment. It’s the idea of flowing, allowing, accepting, embracing, and doing things from a place of enthusiasm that is really speaking to me.
Which means I don’t have a lot to say in the goals department this year! Here are some of the few goals and intentions I’m hoping to cultivate more of in 2017:
Intentions
Unplug often
When I embrace silence, I experience miracles. -Dr. Wayne Dyer
I want to create more time and space in my life when I’m not tethered to my phone. I want hours to go by without checking social media, and I want to cultivate a morning ritual that doesn’t include any technology whatsoever. My work is on the internet, as are some of the ways I choose to spend my leisure time, so I never disconnect unless it’s intentionally done. This year, I want less comparison, less scrolling, and more of my eyes on my own mat, so to speak.
Embrace the situation
Whatever the present moment contains, embrace it as if you had chosen it yourself. -Eckhart Tolle
I talked about this a little in my one little word post, but this year I am very interested in the idea of wasting so much less energy on resisting the way things are. When I embrace situations, I accept and love my people for who they are. I bring the light to the moment. I am forced to stop complaining (mentally or otherwise), moaning, criticizing. I experience so much less tension than when I’m trying to steer the ship or make something happen. Things feel easier, lighter, and more abundant (heyyy all my past words hello hi). In short, life is better.
Celebrate the Everyday
Embrace the amazing potential magic of today’s everyday moments. -Zina Harrington
I used to do a photo project called Everyday Beauty! And then I did one called Steph Loves Today while I was living in Korea. Those both feel like so long ago, but the idea was exactly the same: pay attention to the beauty of your life, just as it already is. When you notice it and appreciate it, things start to seem brighter, lovelier, and happier. You start to see the ordinary things for what they actually are: special and precious. I’m only setting one goal in this department (see below), but it’s a feeling I want to carry with me to encourage me to document things more.
Goals
Read 75 books
You didn’t think that having fewer goals would mean giving up my reading goal, did you?! Wild horses couldn’t keep us apart. As always, you can follow along with my progress over on Goodreads!
Film 1 Second Everyday
This is one of the more concrete ways I’m hoping to celebrate the everyday in 2017. I love looking back on my 1SE video for 2016, and even though I missed (several) days of the project throughout the year, it’s still just as special because it’s mine. That’s how life looked, and seeing it just brings me right back. By the end of the year, I’d really gotten into the habit again of taking my one second video, so it felt natural to continue. But hey, I might get bored of this project or abandon it, and that’s okay too.
And that’s it! Simple stuff this year, because that’s what feels good. Maybe next year I’ll want to make lists again. Maybe next month I’ll want to make lists again! But for now, this is what feels right.
What do you want more of in 2017?
