I LOVE Christmas. Everything about it. It’s pure magic. And when you have kids it gets even better. I climb up into the attic every year in late November as soon as the day rolls past Thanksgiving and take down my 10 boxes of Christmas decorations with intense enthusiasm. I just love it. BUT when the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve I am beyond over it. Almost claustrophobic looking at all the decorations in every nook and cranny of my house. I am ready to rid myself of Christmas and the last year and start FRESH.
Once I take down all the decorations and put everything back in its place I feel like I can take a huge deep breath and the air clears as we begin a new year ahead of us. And instead of making resolutions (over it, they never hold up for me) I think about how I want to make a fresh start to the new year.
Frest Start to 2017
- Clear the Clutter – this one is super important for me and it’s not just physical clutter. Yes, I definitely spend my fair share of time ridding my house of old toys, clothes we don’t wear, trinkets that have piled up and so on. But I also want to clear the emotional clutter. Whatever stress, anxiety, pressure I felt I clear it out. No need to hold onto it, its time to move on and start anew.
- Reconnect – over the course of a year as my schedule fills up and my days quickly go by I get into a rhythm and sort of zone out. I am a master at crossing things off my to-do list which is good but it also turns me into sort of a robot. So the beginning of a new year allows me to reconnect with my family and friends. And one of my main focuses is to reconnect with my husband. We tend to become ships passing in the night as the daily grind takes its toll and I want to hit restart and make sure we make real time for each other (without the kids).
- Prioritize – I say ‘yes’ a lot. I really hate to say no to people, events and tasks. I have major FOMO so if something is going on I want to be there. But this leaves little time for making room for the things that really matter and everything just becomes blah. So it’s time to prioritize. To take a look at everything that comes my way and learn to say ‘no’ to things that aren’t important in order to make real space and time for the things that are.
- Invest – in my faith, in my marriage, in my kids, in my friends and in my career. Instead of spreading myself out I want to really dive into the most important parts of my life and really invest in growing them. My faith is a huge one for me and something that tends to get pushed down the list for the busyness of life. This fresh start is going to allow me to dive in deeper to my faith and when that happens, the rest tends to follow.
- Relax – Deep breaths. Time for myself. Vacations. Moments of just being. Unplugging. A good fresh start really allows me to relax and I want to continue that throughout the year. For my health and happiness this is so very important and will make me a better wife and a better mom.
While you can engage in these things no matter what time of year it is, there is just something so cathartic and powerful about a new year ahead. I am looking forward to my fresh start to the new year and while your fresh start might not look anything like mine, I encourage you to step back, take a good long deep breath and kick off 2017 in a powerful way.
Do you have resolutions? goals? fresh start plans? Let us hear about them!
