Goal setting and letting go
The year has begun in the most lovely of ways. Over the “Dead Week” (as coined by Austin Kleon) we were camping in the high country with friends, reading, swimming in creeks and driving up tracks to find views and wildflowers. Now, it is time to turn my mind to the year ahead. As you may have read in an earlier newsletter, I did not prepare my goals for the year last year and it had me terribly unsettled. It didn’t, however, stop me from making some huge changes to my life.
This year, I wasn’t leaving it to chance and while we were away spent time thinking about the year ahead. I asked myself questions like: What did I want to get out of the year? How did I want the year to feel? Was there a word, motto to take me through the year? What did I want to open my mind and body to over the year?
My little drawings probably mean nothing to you but they make sense to me and as the year ticks on by, I colour the images in to remind myself that I making inroads to what I had set out achieve.
As far back as I can remember, I have thought about the year ahead in how I can grow in terms of spirituality, physical, mental, career, writing and learning. I then try to come in a little closer to these to make them SMART goals.
I’ve also written in my 2023 diary: There are no wrong choices, which I will hold onto as I take risks with my writing and career.
This week back at home after our week camping, I helped my eldest prepare for his first career-job. While he has lived away for the majority of the last three years, his accommodation came with furnishings and he was home at least during semester breaks and for the long uni summer break. On Thursday, my husband and I drove our eldest and all of his belongings up to Bendigo (about a 2.5 hour drive). I am thrilled for him, but I am also sad. I know that from here on, he will only be home for a short visit. This letting go is one of the hardest parts of parenting.
His leaving not only creates a void in our days and house, but also creates an empty room that we now need to work out what to fill it with. For now, it is empty. Clean. Cupboards bare. With time we will expand into it, but for now it feels like a betrayal.
Work-wise, I’ve decided to take up part time contract work in communications to allow time for writing and to take breaks when it suits me. Tomorrow I begin my first short-term contract. It’s the first time in years that I have worked during January and I wondered if I would feel unhappy about going back to work while so many others are on holidays. Instead, I am excited about meeting new people and learning about what I will be doing there.
This year I am also undertaking studies in life coaching, fulfilling a long-held dream. It will provide me with the tools and confidence to do something I have been doing for a long time with people, mostly creatives. I’m excited about what it may become, but more about learning what I don’t know and being open to what I will learn.
Have you made any commitments, goals or wishes for your year ahead? I would love to hear about your process with this and what your goals are.