There’s a New Year Coming - Reflecting and Preparing for 2023
How do you start the new year? Do you set resolutions or intentions? Maybe you find a word for the year, or set goals? Or, does the new year come and go without conscious awareness or intentions?
Just as beginnings of seasons bring with them an expectant energy of what is to come, the new year offers a timely opportunity to reflect and reset after all that end of year build up (and the sprint to the finish line).
With the New Year coinciding with the recent arrival of Summer in the Southern Hemisphere, the weather is a little more conducive to putting your feet up and relaxing for a moment, or three. You may even be lucky enough to have the last week of the closing year, and the first week of the new year as a holiday break.
No matter how you spend it, this time of year offers an opportunity to check-in with yourself, and consider:
- How would you like to be in 2023?
- What are the qualities you would like to focus on?
- Is there something you want to hold yourself to, or bring with you throughout the year ahead?
- Or, is there something you simply want to get done?
You don’t have to set new year’s resolutions
Rather than setting a resolution and striving to be something different (hint: new year's resolutions have been proven to fail for most people[1] [2] ), why not start from the assumption that you already have everything you need inside you, and you’re already perfect (or perfectly imperfect) just the way you are.
Reflecting on 2022 and preparing for 2023
This is your invitation to take (or make) time to reflect on the year that’s been, and give some consideration to the year to come. In doing this, you can articulate what is important to you and begin to get clear on how you want to be, or where you want to focus your attention and energy. This leads to forming an intention for the year ahead, which can be your guiding light, your north star, your anchor in making decisions, reminding you how you wish to be, and therefore what you need to do.
Here's some reflective questions to help you determine what is important to you, and in doing so, begin to cultivate your direction, meaning and purpose for 2023.
20 questions to sharpen your focus for 2023
Ask yourself:
What am I most proud of in the last 12 months?
What was the best thing to happen for me in 2022?
And why?
What brought me the most joy in 2022?
What was really tough about 2022?
What qualities did I bring to this difficult situation that held me in good stead?
What did I stand for in 2022?
What resources (both internal and external), did I draw on when I was challenged this year? Internal resources are your thoughts, beliefs, feelings and tools you use to support yourself. External resources are other people and supports outside of yourself.
What is one thing I have learnt about myself this year?
Is there anything I would do differently in 2022, if I had my time again?
What is one decision I’m glad I made in 2022?
What do I want to do more of in 2023?
What do I want to do less of in 2023?
What would I like to do differently in 2023?
What am I grateful for as I reflect on last year and consider the year ahead?
How do I love to spend my spare time (or how would I, if I had some)?
What do I like to have around me, in my environment
What is one word I would use to describe my energy in 2022?
What is one word I would use to describe what 2022 was about for me?
How do I want to feel, and what do I want to have achieved, at the end of 2023? (See the bonus reflective practice below to expand on this).
From these reflections and considerations, ask yourself:
What do I want 2023 to be about for me? Maybe it is one word, or a phrase, or even a paragraph about how you want to feel, and behave, in the year ahead.
Bonus reflective practice
In addition to the above reflection, I invite you to write a letter to yourself, from your future self, at the end of 2023.
For inspirations, I’ve included below a couple of examples of mine. It’s interesting to see how they have evolved over the years.
“It is 1st January 2022 and I’m taking a moment to pause and reflect, and savour, all the good and growth that unfolded in 2021. I have a successful and growing private practice, online and in person. I have regular clients; some longer term than others. I also enjoyed working as an employed counsellor and the team support, and contrast that offered. My confidence in my competence as a counsellor is solid and my skills are continuing to develop in the areas I’m interested in. I am comfortable in my work and I have clear work hours and time off technology.
I know what works for me, and trust, and do this. The conflicts between my inner and outer world experiences have been reconciled. I can easily tune in to my gut and often feel my conviction and clarity here; grounded in safety and able to be freely and safely expressed. My values of connection, freedom and balance are guiding my choices.
I have established routines and rituals, and put in place boundaries, for my self-care and optimal functioning. I am working in a simplified and organised way which supports my desire for ease and spaciousness. I am more easily able to tune in to what is happening in my body and be with/tend to that.
My values this last year have centred around balance, growth, love and kindness. I am able to be focused, while simultaneously relaxed.”
“It is 1st February 2017 and I’ve collected my term 1 fees for Monday night yoga, with 15 committed students. We’ve started this term’s focus which is resonating with the students and the 2017 course structure has been set. I have completed my 350 hours Yoga Teacher Training upgrade and enrolled in my 2017 course of study to progress my career change - to help people in a way that can replace my corporate income. My coaching style is clear and I’ve set up my framework and templates and tested them on family and friends. I have a plan for volunteering and getting more exposure and experience in wellness service offering opportunities. The children are becoming more independent and taking initiative with more jobs around the house. I am meditating and practicing asana each day, keeping a personal practice journal and a diary of my experience and progress. I am reading new material each day for yoga and its psychology. I have explored opportunities to volunteer in schools and other demographics of interest – community centres for chair yoga and have a plan to approach and schedule these opportunities.
Values: authenticity (true to myself and courage to speak from the heart & mind), connection, growth (challenge myself to learn new things and expand my comfort zone), family, health.”
You can return to the reflective questions and practices in this post whenever you like. You may like to bookmark it to come back to at the end and beginning of each year, as well as any point throughout the year when you want to check-in with yourself and your values.
If you’d like to learn more about aligning your life with your core values, please do get in touch. Together we can work out an individualised approach to your needs, with counselling and mindfulness strategies that suit you and your lifestyle.
Along with individual counselling and mindfulness meditation sessions, I also offer corporate mindfulness and wellbeing workshops and programs (both in person and online).