2017, please be kind…but most importantly, I need to be kind to myself.
2016 was a strange year. It was one in which no matter how hard I worked, I couldn’t grasp any momentum. Most of the time I thought I was running through an open door of opportunity, there was a brick wall right behind it. I’d run smack into that thing and then say to myself, What the hell just happened?
But listen, it just goes like that sometimes.
As I stare at my super cute vision board from this time last year, I think about how it was really just that: cute. The only thing I can technically say that came true was my graduation from my journalism program. (Word to Medill. Love letter coming soon.) But, it wasn’t my lack of effort that made those things not come true. It was because they weren’t supposed to happen. I don’t even know where I got those things from…
Okay, I lied. I know exactly why I put those things on my vision board. I knew I’d be graduating — that part was pretty solid — so I had a picture in my mind of what life after my second grad school program would be like. I envisioned myself strolling down busy New York streets, impeccably dressed while rushing to my great job as a magazine editor (or editorial assistant on the road to becoming an editor, stay with me here). My hair would be longer, more luxurious, and from all the walking and rushing and being a mag superstar, I’d be thinner and glowing. And with that glow, I’d be irresistibly adorable, with men falling in love with my happy aura in addition to my wit. Oh, life was gonna be grand!
This legit was my vision, although I don’t know where it came from.
Okay, I lied again. I thought that would be cute, too. I thought that maybe that vision wouldn’t be fully achieved but that I’d be on my way to it, for sure. I’d have some progress toward this super cute vision that I’d placed on my super cute vision board.
[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]You’ve got to know your vision to do a vision board, though.[/inlinetweet]
Now, 12 months later, I know that although I’d be ecstatic for that to have been my path (seriously) it should never have been my expectation for 2016. It was not a vision, but it wasn’t my truth. Not at that time. But, hey, it was cute and I thought it looked good. It did look good.
So unlike years before, I think I need something different for 2017. I’m not going to do a vision board (not yet anyway) because I know that I’d likely be filling it with things that are wrong and then I’d get mad when things don’t turn out how I expect.
I know this because I’ve been a lot smarter lately. Every time someone asks me what I have going on for 2017, I say something like, “Oh, I’m gonna treat myself better” or “I don’t know, but it’s going to be creative.”
Although I do have a few goals in mind like running my first marathon, I’m approaching this year differently because there’s a lot of things that I just don’t know about yet, and I’m not going to force myself to make goals that just seem impressive and are wrapped up in a cute little package. Instead of a vision board, I’m making promises to myself. And my most important promise is to be kind, like when I don’t meet an unrealistic vision that I unfairly attached to myself in just a year’s time.
Here are just a few of my 2017 promises:
- Be kind to myself.
- Workout and fuel my body like I love it.
- Be courageous.
- See myself as God sees me.
- Learn how to heal when people and situations hurt me.
How are you planning 2017 and what are you looking forward to doing? Let me know below!