Welcome back, and cheers to 2018!
We've already made it halfway through January but I've continued to reflect on what's to come for this still-new year. I'm not setting any resolutions, per se, this year, although I'm thinking quite a lot about what I hope this year will hold. One of my dearest friends asks us each year at New Year's and on our birthdays what our hopes, dreams, and aspirations are for the coming year. I love this approach because it frames my perspective for the big picture and can prompt goals from the specific and quotidian to those that are grand and just visible on the distant horizon. Hopes, dreams and aspirations are so open-ended that they can be personal, professional, even relational.
I've gently moved away from resolutions because for me, they had become a yardstick to measure myself. Some years, I would check in on my resolutions on the first day of each month to see whether or not I was sticking to my resolutions. It was, admittedly, intense. As I've gotten older, I've grown more compassionate with myself. As 2017 wound down and the New Year approached, I simply didn't feel any push to set resolutions. It wasn't a feisty rebellion or a protest against resolutions, but New Years Day came and went and I was content not to frame the start of my year with resolutions.
If I'm being honest, yes, I would love to fit in more workouts each week, cut down on my sugar intake, and cook dinner far most nights and rarely order takeout. But I realize that I'm doing my best week to week. I balance a demanding job, prioritizing quality time spent with my husband, walks and playtime with our dog, and carving out time to write and photograph and share those pursuits via this blog.
So with all of that on my plate, I'll settle for drinking more water each day (a mini goal that I've been working towards for weeks) and making sure that even if I don't make it to the gym, I get thirty minutes of activity each day. I keep a large tumbler at my desk to encourage staying hydrated and I'm tracking my time spent walking the dog and taking a midday break from my desk to walk a few blocks near my office.
Choosing not to make any resolutions has felt very freeing. I'm taking a longer approach to what exactly my hopes, dreams, and aspirations are, for this year and for the coming year. As I figure them out for myself, I look forward to sharing them here. In the meantime, I am wishing you all the best for 2018 and I'd love to hear what your hopes are, large or small, for this year.
Amour Vert dress last seen here.