Once the to do list and grocery list and panic about how little holiday shopping I've done all dissipated, one question lingered in my thoughts, in the dark, as the clock ticked toward midnight: What about next year?
It didn't feel like a frantic question in my mind. Instead, it was soothing. I felt like, once the other thoughts stopped chattering, I needed a solution to keep all those extraneous details quiet. Maybe for good. At least for the year.
So, what about next year?
My first thought was to come up with a list of resolutions. The trouble with resolutions, though, is that they are just filled with pressure and so easy to break. Then the little leftover guilt pokes at you for the next ten months until you blow it all up again. Resolutions are not the answer (at least for me, at least this time).
Without resolutions, the question of next year was left hanging. And then the thought came to me that maybe I just need to create a good intention for my year. Maybe what would work better for me is to decide how I'd like to live this year and let all the tasks and goals fall under that as I have time and energy and inspiration.
My thoughts quieted for a moment and then the words "self-care" came to me. It's not a revolutionary phrase, not a big, new idea that will blow you or me or anyone else out of the water. But it was enough.
I've had the kind of manic year that has made it pretty difficult to be good to myself and as it ends, I am feeling the impact of of putting myself second or fifth or even dead last. So I am setting my sights on self-care in 2009.
I'd like that intention to include more nights when I go to bed early, fewer racing thoughts, a return to yoga and meditation andfun kinds of fitness, maybe some time carved out just to do artistic things like painting and pottery. The list could go on and on, and I am sure that every month I will think of new ways to tend to myself.
Will this work better than setting a goal weight or bedtime or number of cardio sessions to punch on my class card? I don't know. But last night, the stress left me and I really settled in when I thought about creating an intention rather than coming up with a resolution. So I choose to go with being inspired by the calm rather than motivated by more pressure this time around the calendar.
What about you? Do you need resolutions? Or would a good intention be good enough for you this New Year?
Read more:
[photo credit: Getty Images]
