Oh January 1, are you one of the most popular days in the year full of dreams and optimism? I think so! For the past couple of years now, I realized that I came up with so many plans and goals for the New Year and by December nothing would be done. Now, this is not a pessimist post, in fact, it’s a post to help you realize that goals without commitment or plans do not work. Goals in this case could mean professional or personal goals of any kind. Goals of things you want to improve about yourself as an individual or maybe your skills. Whatever it is, without the commitment or plans they won’t work so keep on reading!

I agree that the New Year is perfect to look back at what you have done and reflect. Yesterday, I looked at my list of goals short and long term for 2020 and for obvious reasons, I didn’t get to do some. Some I tried, but did not accomplish, but the key word here is that I tried…and I failed, but I will try again. Some things are hard to achieve, but are worth it, so we must try again and again. Was I afraid to fail? Yes, terrified, but I was more terrified of not trying.

Now with that said, I want to challenge you to really reflect on how you felt in 2020. Many of us had a roller-coaster of feelings with surprising news some bad, some good, some just terrible, but how did you feel? And what did you do about it? Did you learn from it? Did you sink more? Did you become more stoic? Did you become more realistic?

Personally, I’ve had good and bad things happen to me this year, and they don’t seem to end. I’m mentally exhausted, yes, but I don’t allow myself to fall because I know I have control over what I allow to affect me and where I’m weaker. Also, as I mentioned many times before, these feelings are fleeting. Feelings of exhaustion, feelings of sadness or anxiety are temporary. When you take a stand to make changes to the things that are not serving you anymore, those feelings will eventually leave you.

I probably have let friends and family down, but what good am I if I’m not feeling my best? So, don’t feel bad when you have to make some changes in your life that are not expected from the people in your circle. Let 2021 be the year where you learn to set boundaries, have strategies for your goals, and have someone help you keep yourself accountable. The key to all of this is to practice, practice and practice. I’ve fallen off the wagon so many times, but I look back and see why it didn’t work and go from there to make changes so next time I’m closer for it to work.

I have all the faith that 2021 is going to be such a good year. So many lessons learned, challenges we overcame, all the emotions and feelings we had to feel, embrace all of the changes in our personal and professional life…all of that cannot go to waste. We must take what we learned and put it to good use.

Happy New Year to everyone!

with love,

Natalie