- First, choose a word to guide you through the next 12 months. Pick a word that makes you feel expanded. Encouraged. Inspired. There’s no right or wrong answer so go with your gut. What’s your Word for 2020? Wild.
- If you lived and breathed your Word every day in 2020, what would be different for you? I would be much, much stronger. I would have spent more days/moments outside than inside. I would breathe the fresh air. I would be climbing a much higher grade. I would have conquered Whitney but even more so, to make that possible, I would have built a super strong stamina, strength, and discipline. I would be tapping into the wilder parts of my personality and trying out new ways of being. I would feel inside of my body instead of out of it. I would be trying new things, favoring adventures. I would experiment with who I am, who I can be, and how I can shift my sense of self-identity.
- If you truly embodied your Word every day in 2020, what would you do differently? I would go outside more, I would say yes to adventures, I would make sure to work out in some way or another each day, I would breathe in the air, i would try new things, i would hike more and smile more.
- What one thing could you do each day to anchor your Word into your routine? 15 minutes of exercise daily no matter what
- How does your word make you feel? excited, a little scared, ambitious, calm, like there’s something so much bigger than I am, fresh, adventurous
- List some ways you are already experiencing or embodying this Word:
- I am climbing weekly.
- I am doing more walking meetings outside.
- I have changed my instagram to be more full of adventures and outdoor places that inspire me
- I have taken and planned many hikes this year.
- What could you do this year to bring more of your Word into your world?
- Definitely more journaling
- One walking meeting daily
- Meditation
- Hiking
- Going to the Water
- Eat the wild, cook on the weekends
- Watch the Stars, learn about the stars, go visit a telescope
- Get a massage once a month
- Go to a hiking retreat (talk to Laura from work.)
- Draw Mandalas
- Do more Wildlife photography
- Learn about trees and birds
- Take daily Evening or morning walks?
- Stretch daily
- Uphill walking to help build stamina
- Climb trees
- Candles with smells of the wild
- Essential oils with smells of the wild
- Practice Feeling inside my body
- Listen to more Tara brach
- Listen to More opera and musicals
- Learn to build a fire
- Cook soup from scratch
- Draw the wild
- Go Fruit picking
- Buy some outdoors clothes
- Draw in the AM
- Go to bed early
- Take more photos
- Write gratitudes
- Take a Dancing Class with Jake
- Weekly Dates with Jake (outside!)
- Take 3 REI classes
- Make hiking plan
- Tell more of our stories
- Make Whitney plan
- Work with Nathaniel
- Start Family Dinners
- Learn to ride a bike
- Find a walking/hiking group
- Try 3 new things every month
- Write weekly emails on how you’re being out in the wild and trying new things
- Choose four extra words to support your Word this year. They could be anything from inspiring words to names of people to things you want to invest in…
- Currently leaning towards: release, magic, join, open, begin
- What are you looking forward to in 2020? Getting stronger, trying new things, staying in the growth mindset. Giving myself permission to try things and to fail.
- What are you feeling apprehensive about? That I won’t do anything. That I’ll stay stagnant.
- What life lessons are you taking with you into 2020? That I get to shift my identity. That being out in the wild brings me closer to peace and contentment.
- What area of your life do you most want to develop in 2020? Identity, willingness to try new things, new ways of being and showing up and trying, willingness to choose to go out instead of staying in.
- What part of yourself do you yearn to nurture in 2020? My body and my inner voice.
- Fast-forward to December 2020. You’re sitting in a café, musing over the last 12 months. Where do you want to be…
- in your head? (work, dreams, goals)
- Clear. Learned a lot of things, found some new tools. Own the space I’m in. I’m clear on what I want and what serves me well.
- in your heart? (relationships, family, friends)
- Feeling grateful Really honoring the people I love, spending my energy and time on them and focusing on them so they know and can feel my love too.
- in your soul? (beliefs, practices, self-love)
- At peace. Shifted my identity. See myself in a new light. Have faith in myself.
- in your physical world? (home, health, hobbies)
- Spending time telling stories, taking photos, drawing but most importantly stronger, really honoring my body with what i do with it and how i feed it. Really stepping into and owning this space.
- in your head? (work, dreams, goals)
- Okay, let’s take it up a notch. Use this page to describe what 2020 looks like in your ideal world. Be specific! What are your dreams for love this year? Work? Play? Where are you hungry for change? How do you want 2020 to FEEL? Use your answers from the previous pages to craft your ideal vision for the next 12 months. What would saying YES to your life look and feel like? Write out everything your heart desires for this new year. Be bold. I would be stronger, I would be spending more time outdoors than indoors, taking chances, trying new things, trying new ways of being, getting out of my comfort zone more often. Fostering new relationships and connections. Stepping into things that I am not sure of. Trying on being different than my tried/true ways. I choose brave. I choose wild. I choose the unknown. I choose adventures. I get better at climbing. I don’t let my inner dialogue squash me. I show up even when I don’t want to. Even when it sucks. Even when I am tired. I just keep showing up. And I keep making the good for me choice over the easy/short term choice. I live in the sunshine, swim the sea and drink the wild air!
- List 3 unhelpful beliefs about yourself you’re ready to release
- I am not strong.
- I can’t change.
- I can’t get promoted.
- List 3 duties or commitments you feel ready to let go of in 2020 I need to clean out my calendar at work. This is my top one.
- List 3 skills you’d like to learn or improve in 2020
- Hiking and climbing and being physically stronger.
- Invest more in journaling, photography, drawing, and telling our stories.
- Making some new connections.
- List 3 books you intend to read this year: as always, i know i will read many.
- How could you bring more calm into your life (and head) this year? I think the combination of journaling, meditation and connecting with those i love will help. Self affirmations, wearing/eating what i love, hugging people i love will help too.
- List 3 things about yourself you positively love
- My energy (when i am not triggered, i am always so excited)
- My relentless pursuit in learning, growing, trying
- My deep love for the people i love
- That i am organized, reliable & dependable
- List 3 ways you could be kinder to your body this year
- Resting more and well.
- Nourishing my body with the foods that help it flourish
- more stretching, massage, and yoga and doing my physical therapy.
- List 3 ways you could connect with loved ones in 2020
- Weekly email with a friend is a lovely start for me. Also monthly in person meetings.
- Go to both book clubs more regularly.
- Call mom daily, nephews/sister weekly.
- Make 1 new friend/connection a week.
- List 3 people you could extend compassion to
- My husband
- Myself.
- And honestly, every single person in my life all the time. I just want to be kinder.
- How could you bring more love into your life this year? Then date nights, gratitude, thanking others, appreciating what I have, paying attention. Celebrating wins. Focusing on growth mindset.
- List 3 interests/hobbies you would like to explore more in 2020
- Sketching + photography + journaling
- Hiking + camping + climbing.
- List 3 ways you could feed your imagination this year
- Books!
- Travel to adventures i haven’t had.
- Say yes to a many things I wouldn’t.
- List 3 ways you could bring more passion into your world this year
- Just go out.
- Show up all the time, regardless of how i feel.
- Do what’s right and not what feels easy
- List 3 dreams you would like to manifest this year (personal or professional)
- Climbing Whitney.
- Getting promoted.
- Feeling a deep connection with my boys and my husband.
- How could you bring more creative energy into your life this year?
- I’d like to be telling more of our stories
- I’d love to continue to draw and write about books
- I’d love to do more photography, especially if i’ll be outdoors more
- List 3 ways you could bring more mindfulness to your mornings
- Exercise + meditation + calling mom in the mornings.
- Journaling for 15 minutes (to set intentions)
- Sketching/Art for 15-20 minutes.
- Being outside more, stretching.
- List 3 ways you could bring more mindfulness to your evenings (I added this because I want to do both mornings and evenings.)
- Stretching, removing make up and flossing in the evenings.
- Journaling for 15 minutes (releasing and gratitude)
- Reading + disconnecting.
- Taking an evening walk.
- List 3 ways you could cherish your home this year
- Buy flowers
- Make fewer piles.
- Rearrange desk to serve my life as is now.
- List 3 ways you could connect more deeply with nature in 2020
- This year is all about connecting with nature!!
- List 3 places in your city, town or neighbourhood you want to explore I have the same list as last year:
- All the hiking places near me!
- San Francisco, date nights, theatre.
- The beach.
- How could you bring a sense of groundedness into your life this year? I think the journaling and meditation will really help. I will go out into the wild. That always grounds me.
- Using your favourite tarot or oracle deck, draw one card for the overall theme of the upcoming year and then a card for each month of 2020. Tip: I like to shufle 3 or 4 packs together to give the reading even greater scope. If you don’t have any decks go to www.susannahconway.com/ cards to see my favourite decks and app recommendations. I am not into Tarot Decks and I did this two years ago and found it not to be that inspiring or interesting. However, back in 2013, our January OLW assignment involved setting intentions and I really enjoyed that, so I thought maybe I can do that instead.
- January: Into the Wild: Start small. Make a plan for the steps you want to take and give yourself a lot of grace. Take a handful of steps. You got this.
- February: Wild at Heart: Take new chances with your heart this month. Try new date nights. Reach out to new people. Create new connections. Strengthen your heart with exercise.
- March: Wild Air: Go outside. Smell the spring air. The seasons are shifting again and it’s time to try new things, new places, take new chances. Pick one thing and go big. Drink the wild air.
- April: Call of the Wild: Go on adventures. Venture out into the wild. It’s calling for you. Where are you holding back?
- May: Quiet Wilderness: Time to rest a little bit before things get crazy again. By the end of this month, you have parties, transitions, culminations etc. Use the time to add some quiet to the days and really connect with the peace of the wild, get grounded.
- June: Wild World: And here’s summer. Time to go big again. Travel the wild world. Take vacations. Bring the delicious, fresh wild into your home.
- July: Run Wild: Settle into the summer. Enjoy the wild. Use the energy of the sunshine and the long days. Step into it. Honor it. Bask in it.
- August: Wildest Dreams: Time to get organized again, transitions are coming, big ones this time. Get organized, plan, prepare and do what you need to do. Write down all your dreams. Make plans.
- September: Embrace the Wild: Time to root and surrender. This is a hard month for you. Transitions are rough. But you also turn 46. It’s magical to get to have another year. Remember the growth mindset. Let go of your preconceived ideas and embrace the wild.
- October: Wildcard: October is a long month and not a lot of time off so you need to add a bit of wild to it. Add small bits of life and random wildcards into your every day. Give this month the kick it needs to make it a notch more unpredictable.
- November: Touch of the Wild: you’re making it happen. Don’t stop now. The year is almost over. What’s one area where you can still honor your wild and precious life? Give love and attention there this month. You can do this.
- December: Go Wild: And finally time to rest and relax and bask in your your one wild and precious life again. You’ve come a long way. It’s time to celebrate. Honor. Be grateful. Thank 2020 for all that it gave you. Fully bask in how far you’ve come so you can bid it farewell.
- 2020 will be the year I finally shift my identity around what’s possible for me.
- I will nourish myself with the wild air.
- I will make more time for being outdoors.
- I will recharge my batteries by being out in the wild, connecting with people i love, resting.
- This year I will open my heart to possibility
- I will pay more attention to taking incremental steps.
- I will learn more about:
- Letting go, noticing, making peace.
- Hiking
- Serving my body’s needs
- I will release my attachment to parts of my identity that don’t serve me.
- I wish for 2020 to feel comfortable in my skin, my body, my soul.
- This year I will say NO to being too scared to try.
- This year I will say YES to stepping into the growth mindset.
I wholeheartedly believe that everything is possible in 2020!
As always, I mention many of these same thoughts from last year and here, here, and here. I am pretty sure these themes have been in my life in some way or another for many years. I know that they will likely still be around in 2021 and onward. What I’d like to do this year is to make a dent. To move things forward a little bit. Every forward step I take moves me in the right direction and that’s all I can ask for.
Close your eyes for a moment and imagine stepping into the shoes of you from December 2020, one year from now. You are one year older and one year wiser and you’ve lived every day of 2020 fully and completely. You have a message of encouragement about 2020. There’s stuff you want to share… stuff you’re eager to tell yourself. When you’re ready, open your eyes, pick up your pen, and write a letter from your future self, starting with Dear Karen: I am so proud of you. I know that you showed up and tried. I know that even when you had moments of wanting to give up, you got up and tried again. I am so proud of how hard you try, how far you’ve come and how you show up again and again. Keep going, you got this!
Leave a Reply