I had regular goals for my blog for the last few years and that worked well for me until last October when I just gave everything up. At this point, I am not yet sure how I feel about 2021 and the blog so I don’t want to prematurely commit to things. But here are a few things I might like to try:
Art: I really enjoyed drawing for my book instagram account last year and might want to pick that back up, not sure what other art plans I have
Reflection: Monday and Sunday reflection posts helped me stay connected to my goals, keep track of my intentions, I will see if I can bring those back.
Storytelling: Stories from 2020 started out strong but like last year, I quit. This year, I did post short passages on my personal instagram account and I am thinking of continuing that for 2021 possibly. If so, that would be a bit of our storytelling. I also will continue to have Ali’s kits and use those to tell our stories.
Reading – I read like a lot this year. I continued to read netgalley books as well as audiobooks from the library and audible. I plan to continue this next year. I will continue tracking them on goodreads.
Until October, 2020 was going ok but I haven’t missed blogging so I am not sure if I will do any or all of these but we will see. All of these might happen, none of them might happen. I might repeat projects. I might do wildly different things. I am giving myself grace while trying to keep myself motivated.
Here’s to a wonderful 2021. Here’s to doing more art. Here’s to making time to enjoy art. Here’s to learning new things. Here’s to practicing more. Here’s to reflecting. Being intentional. Creating a positive cycle. Here’s to saying yes.
I couldn’t decide if I was planning to work this week or not so I blocked off my calendar before we all disappeared in December. I didn’t know it then but it might be the smartest decision I made in 2020.
This morning I decided that I would go back to work slowly. I have a daily meeting with my manager and I decided I would attend that and pretty much nothing else. So today, instead of my usual 10 hours of meetings, I had 2 hours of meetings. It meant that I could:
– stay on top of my incoming mail – send some emails to do work – eat lunch – plan some of the work that is coming – exercise – stay calm and spacious all day
It was the most incredible start to the year. And I plan for it to be this way all week!
I might have to make a tradition of this every year. In fact, maybe I will do a week like this every 6 weeks or so to cleanse and catch up.
Yes to ramping up slowly. Yes to creating more space. Yes yes yes.
I want to start by saying that this is going to be a long post. These reflective posts are how I make sure to live my life intentionally. They matter to me and I love being able to look back on them in future years. I know that this might not be interesting to many (if not any) of you, so please feel free to skip it. If some of you find it interesting, all the better.
This particular exercise is following Susannah Conway’s Unraveling 2021 sheet. You can download it right here. I split the reflective questions looking back on 2020 in and the questions to help clarify goals/dreams for 2021 into two posts. This is part II. All questions are Susannah’s and are copyrighted to her.
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 intuition. What’s your Word for 2021? YES.
If you truly embodied your Word every day in 2021, what would you do differently? I would welcome life with all that it has to give me. This year will come with a lot of unknowns and instead of feeling like a victim, I want to welcome all of life’s surprises and ups and downs. I want to lean into life, honor it, cherish it, suck that marrow.
What one thing could you do each day to anchor your Word into your routine? I could have a mantra and also do a 5-minute meditation before I get out of bed.
How does your Word make you feel? Excited and full of energy. Ready to conquer the day. Full of optimism and joy.
Do you want any extra words to support your Word for 2021? Brainstorm here. Think about what you need in the different areas of your life: home… work… relationships.. Health… self-care… What would support your Word? I’ve been thinking about this and the words on my list so far are: lighter, kinder, braver, wilder, delighted and enough, content, spacious, connected. I will pick some subset of these.
What are you looking forward to in 2021? I am looking forward to the vaccine, to being able to travel and go on adventures again, to taking David on college tours, to seeing my family, to hugging my friends, to the next steps at work, to slowly getting to feel normal life again.
What are you feeling apprehensive about? That much of this might not come, that we will spend another year at home, that one of my family members might get sick, that there’s still so much unknown.
What life lessons are you taking with you into 2021? That life is short and can turn on a dime. That we don’t get to choose what happens but we do get to choose how we react to it, how we receive it and what we do as a result.
What area of your life do you most want to develop in 2021? My attitude and my outlook. I want to fundamentally change how I see life and how I approach life.
What part of your self do you yearn to nurture in 2021? My body. I want to keep exercising and getting stronger. I also want to nurture my soul and be kinder to myself all the time.
Fast-forward to December 2021. You’re sitting in a café, musing over the last 12 months. Where do you want to be…
in your head? (work, dreams, goals) At a job I love and where I feel secure, challenged and appreciated. I want to feel full, clear and fully content. I want to fully own who I am and have a job that honors that.
in your heart? (relationships, family, friends) I want to be kind and generous and full of abundance in my relationships. I want to feel expansive and patient.
in your soul? (beliefs, practices, self-love) I want to be happy, optimistic, grateful and full of joy. I want to say YES to everything life has to offer me and see the magic that my life is and continues to be..
in your physical world? (home, health, hobbies) I want to be strong and dedicated and fully step into my abilities, my strength and honor my health.
Okay, let’s take it up a notch. Use this page to describe what 2021 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 2021 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 want this year to be full of joy. I want to be optimistic about how things turn out and what things mean. But not a silly optimism, instead a deeply seeded belief that there’s so much goodness in the world and that things will be okay. I want to support my husband in his incredible ventures. I want to support my kids in who they are and all they will become. I want to fully step into my own self with all the promise and possibility that it opens up. I want to be kind and supportive and generous to everyone, including myself. Yes would look like waking up full of energy and going to bed full of gratitude. Living every single moment of every single day.
Now let’s give those dreams and plans some shape. Use the grid to start plotting the details of 2021. Use words and pictures, dates and anniversaries. Include actual events and made-up dreams, too. Be playful. Doodle your heart out. 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: Yes to Baby Steps: 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: Yes to the Unknown: Be open to new things this month. Listen more, watch others. Be willing to take some steps into the unknown and assume the best. Be brave.
March: Yes You Can: This is usually your hardest month. No break, still too cold. It feels hard to make it through this month but you can. Yes you can. Keep going.
April: The Quiet Yes: Be still. Listen to the whispers of your soul. See what your heart is telling you. Listen to the conversations in your head. Hear yourself.
May: Yes Just Yes: Time to be bold. Jump in. Dare to go all in and see what happens. What happens if you say yes?!
June: Yes to Light: Breathe in the fresh air. Summer is here. Smell the water. Go outside. Sit in the sunshine. One more school year is over. Celebrate your life.
July: Yes to adventures: Create some adventure. Go places. Do things. Hug your people. Take chances.
August: Yes to Life: Time to get organized again, transitions are coming. Eleventh and Seventh grades. Get organized, plan, prepare and do what you need to do. Write down all your dreams. Make plans.
September: Yes to Possibilities: Time to root and surrender. This is a hard month for you. Transitions are rough. But you also turn 47. It’s magical to get to have another year. Remember the growth mindset. Let go of your preconceived ideas and embrace the possibilities.
October: Yes to Connection: Reach out to others. Connect with your people. Make new connections. Say yes to more things.
November: Yes to Rest: It’s ok if you need to start slowing down. Give yourself grace. Year is almost over. Can you do one more thing, take one more step in the direction of your dreams? What do you still want to say yes to?
December: Yes to Celebration: You’ve come a long way. It’s time to celebrate. Honor. Be grateful. Thank 2021 for all that it gave you. Fully bask in how far you’ve come so you can bid it farewell. Celebrate all your yeses.
List 3 unhelpful beliefs about yourself you’re ready to release
That I am not strong.
That I am not beautiful.
That I am not worthy of belonging.
List 3 duties or commitments you feel ready to let go of in 2021
I am not going to do the weekly album this year.
Letting go of the need to blog daily
Moving from weekly photos to monthly.
List 3 skills you’d like to learn or improve in 2021
Stitching maybe
Drawing always
Coding maybe
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? More journaling and meditation, sitting by the fire, flowers, candles, nature always bring me calm. And take baths!
List 3 things about yourself you positively love
My empathy and kindness
That i am always trying to be a better version of myself.
My deep and endless love for my people.
List 3 ways you could be kinder to your body this year
Take care of my teeth and gums.
Exercise and hydrate.
Put cream on my skin.
Rest!
List 3 ways you could connect with loved ones in 2021
Call mom and Yona on a schedule, more regularly.
Make a weekly date with Leslie and Monthly date with Jess
Dial into the zooms every time.
List 3 people you could extend compassion to
My husband and kids.
Myself.
Every single person I come in contact with can always use more compassion, cause can’t we all?
How could you bring more love into your life this year? I could look for the good, spend time celebrating, practice self-love, hug and touch more, and date nights!
List 3 interests/hobbies you would like to explore more in 2021
Sketching + photography + journaling + stitching
Hiking + camping + climbing + meditation + biking
Not sure yet.
List 3 ways you could feed your imagination this year
Reading
Leaning in and saying yes.
Travel + adventure
List 3 ways you could bring more passion into your world this year
Saying yes to adventures and new things
Yes to date nights and time together
Making things happen.
List 3 dreams you would like to manifest this year (personal or professional)
Alaska!
Maybe Climbing Whitney
Feeling settled at work.
How could you bring more creative energy into your life this year?
Maybe a december daily like book for the year, I have to think more on this.
More drawing and reading combos.
Maybe cooking 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.
Taking a bath.
List 3 ways you could cherish your home this year
Buy flowers
Cozy blankets
Light candles.
List 3 ways you could connect more deeply with nature in 2021
Camp and hike. And climb in nature.
Sink my feet into the sand and into the ocean.
Climb trees.
List 3 places in your city, town or neighbourhood you want to explore
All the beaches.
San Fran.
More socal this year.
How could you bring a sense of groundedness into your life this year?
Regular yoga + meditation + journaling
Doing more stretching
Being out in nature, taking walks.
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 2021. I don’t like to do this so as well as the monthly above, I will list a bunch of things I can do this year.
Yes to the outdoors: Hiking, Climbing, swimming, waterfalls, sand, ocean
Yes to healthy living: Cook more, eat more veggies, more water, walking, sleep
Yes to routine: morning and evening routines
Yes to being active: stretching, strength, yoga, peloton. climbing
Yes to new adventures: travel, climbing trees,
Yes to art: draw, paint, photography,
Yes to stories: week in the life, story albums, december daily, OLW
Yes to romance: dancing with Jake, date nights,
Yes to family: family dinners, project with N, project with D, vacation
Yes to connection: emails/calls with friends, write letters, call mom, call yona
Yes to optimism: write what went right, celebrate, donate, thank yous, send gifts
Yes to learning new things: podcasts, new classes, nonfiction books
Yes to joy: dance, listen to music, celebrations
Yes to adventure: book vacations, try new things.
2021 will be the year I finally become an optimist!
I will nourish myself with fresh, unprocessed food, a positive attitude, good friends.
I will make more time for myself and the people I love.
I will recharge my batteries by resting, exercising, and sleeping more.
This year I will open my heart to possibility.
I will pay more attention to the good.
I will learn more about leaning in, saying yes, leaping.
I will release my attachment to my stories and my past and my anxiety/worry.
I wish for 2021 to feel magical.
This year I will say NO to worry, stress, negativity, things that drain me.
This year I will say YES to LIFE with all of its gifts.
What is your secret wish for 2021? Declare it here! My secret wish is that this year I fundamentally change the way I see life. That I pay attention to the good, internalize it and really see it. That I stay optimistic and step fully into my life.
I wholeheartedly believe that everything is possible in 2021!
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 2022 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 2021, one year from now. You are one year older and one year wiser and you’ve lived every day of 2021 fully and completely. You have a message of encouragement about 2021. 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. Keep going, you got this!
Tonight is our last night of “vacation.” Kids “go” back to school tomorrow and I am still deciding whether I will work this week and how much. But even if I decide to sit out most of the week, the email barrage will definitely start as others go back to work.
I find myself alternating between feeling excited to get started with this year already and feeling not ready. I am still tired emotionally and still hurting physically. I could use another month of just lying around and reading and numbing.
But I also know that sometimes the best way to get to that next phase is to start. Sitting on the couch, I might never feel ready.
So bring on the routine. I miss journaling and have so much in my head that it might take me pages to get it all out. I miss drawing. I miss having a plan.
I can’t go out and do things just yet but I can bring back some structure into my life and my plan tomorrow is to say yes to routine, even if I don’t feel ready.
And the plan for tonight is yes to a few more hours of relaxing and then getting a solid night of rest.
As with all the previous years, I knew I wanted to pick my core desired feelings this year, too. If you want to know more about core desired feelings, please go to my post from 2016 and you can see the links there.
I did the exercise this year as I do each year but the words kept changing this year and I had a longer list than usual. As each time, I told myself to focus on how I want to feel this year. What are the feelings I am cultivating? If I get an offer of an opportunity, what are the questions I want to ask myself so I can make a decision around whether I say yes or no? How will I know if this action will make me feel what I want to feel?
I mentioned before that there’s a pattern to my words: I always pick something around peacefulness, something around being brave, something around being open, and then maybe a few new ones. So this year I was curious if I would break the trend.
So my core word YES this year for me is about being brave, open and about possibility. Being open to possibility and being brave enough to lean into it. Those words will already be with me this year.
Here’s what I came up with this year and what they each mean to me:
Light(er): This is the peaceful word of this year. I want to shed things. I want things to feel light. As in opposite of heavy. I want to release, shed, surrender, I want to feel light.
Kind(er): I know I’ve picked this before but I always welcome kind in my life. I always want to do things that feel kinder.
Enough: This is the spacious word of this year. There’s enough time, enough money, enough love, enough to go around. There’s enough. I want to feel like there’s enough. I want to move through the world as if there’s enough, I am enough and I have plenty to give.
Magic: This word from 2019 is still hanging on to me, I miss it, I miss how it made me feel, I miss the choices I made when I sought magic so I am holding it close this year.
Wild: And since 2020 was such a cluster. I am going with my 2020 word for one more year. Here’s to going wilder. Stronger. Braver. In the wild. Adventures.
So there we are. I guess we still have a trend. Enough and light are my peaceful words, wild and magic are about being brave and possibly about being open, too?
I love all of these. Most importantly, I can immediately connect with the feeling I get when I say these words. I feel full. I feel content knowing these are the words I want for myself. They feel exciting and loving.
Here’s to a delightful year of feeling kinder and lighter while seeing magic and will and knowing it will all be enough.
I’m learning that sometimes saying yes is about saying no. I’ve had sciatica pain for the last 58 days or so. I kept living life and exercising on the bike. I kept hoping it would just disappear on its own.
But it did not.
Finally, I had a videoconference with my doctor and she recommended that I take a continuous dosage of aleve and stay away from the bike for ten days. When she saw me balk, she said ok start with 5 days. Try it for five days.
She also said that if aleve doesn’t work she’d have to move to more serious medication and this particular medicine has caused huge issues with me in the past so I reluctantly agreed to give it an honest try.
Despite my fears that if I stopped riding, I’d stop permanently, I stopped riding. Instead I’ve been doing pilates, strength, arms, meditation and yoga. But no bike.
Today was day five and I feel about 20% better. Not much to write home about but also considering how acute the pain usually is and how much the next medication scares me, I plan to email her tomorrow and see if she’d recommend I continue this Aleve plan another five days. I might even do the stretches she sent me.
I’m still scared I won’t ever go back on the bike and I’m scared to say no to it but I also know that if I want to say yes to being healthy, I need to give myself space to occasionally rest and heal.
So here we are. No in the short term so I can hopefully say yes in the long term.
I’ve written about little boy’s shiny hunting machine before. He’s rigged up an arduino, using an RGB sensor, a solenoid and a servo motor and some cleverly placed clamps (and a penny!) to have his game start and see if the pokemon is a shiny one and if not to reboot and start again.
After months and months, I basically sat with him while he spent many many hours working on it and he finally got the whole thing working.
It ran last night, broke again this morning, and he spent another 6 hours debugging it and finally it’s working again.
Yes to preseverence. Yes to crazy ideas. Yes to time together, encouraging each other’s dreams.
So here we are. A new year. For me, a new year usually comes with much anticipation. New projects. New dreams. New plans.But alas 2021 is filled with so much unknown that I wasn’t sure if I should make any plans at all.
I’m still not sure.
I spent a lot of time thinking about my word this year and about what I want and what I don’t want and in the end what I wanted more of in my life was just yes.
Yes.
Yes to trying new things. Yes to how things already are. Yes to being open. And yes to accepting what is. I like that for me it’s both daring and zen.
Up until a few weeks ago, I was determined that my 2021 word was going to be Light. I wanted it to be light. After the year that 2020 has been, I really thought a year of looking for the light, seeing the light, making light, etc. would be the exact right thing for me.
While choosing Light felt calming it just didn’t seem to have the boldness of the last few years’ words. I wanted something both quiet and bold. Sort of how magic was in 2019. I was craving both and light just didn’t feel enough.
So I went on a search. Here are all the words I considered:
surrender
release
cozy
rest
grow
leap
light
heal
open
change
ease
celebrate
alive
begin
create
nourish
construct
build
whole
calm
grounded
yes
here
now
see
play
connect
expand
abundance
breathe
design
flow
gather
quiet
pause
slow
perspective
tend
wait
After thinking about it all for a while, the word YES jumped off the page for me. That feeling of the fully owned Yes is what I was seeking for 2021. Stepping into my life. So I decided YES was exactly what I wanted this year.
Yes comes with daring, it’s a Heck YES or it’s a no. It comes with the quiet yes too, the saying yes to life, yes to what is, and it comes with possibility. Yes to being open, yes to optimism. Yes to whatever may come. I want to choose my life instead of feeling like things are happening to me.
The Daring Yes: This is about trying new things, taking chances, saying yes to things that feel scary. Yes to adventure. Yes to the unexpected. This is about venturing into discomfort and stretching that zone of comfort bit by bit.
The Quiet Yes: This is the passive part. Listening to the quiet noises of my soul. Connecting to my breath and checking in with my quiet yeses. The whispers of my soul. What is sitting there, waiting to be stirred?
Yes to Life: This is for embracing the unpredictable nature of life. Saying yes to things that happen. Being deeply optimistic about how things will turn out and then embracing what is when things reveal themselves. Feeling like I own my life and drive my own life. Yes yes yes.
I really liked the lists I’ve made in the years past year so here are a few other aspects of yes for me (some new, some repeats.):
Say YES This is rule #1: Say yes to things, don’t do what feels easy. do what feels daring. when you are asked something say YES first.
Say no: Saying yes also requires saying no. You must say no to inertia. Say no to things that don’t light you up. Say no to things that weigh you down. Say no to things that crush your soul. No more.
Assume the Best: This year, I will be an optimist! I will assume the best. I will assume things will work out. I will assume we will fix it. We can overcome. Because assuming the worst hasn’t really been working out. I will still work hard, and try hard but i will also be an optimist!
Be Generous: Make room for others. Expand. Tell them why they are amazing. Praise. Donate. Be generous. Nothing is ever too much trouble and there’s always time.
Embrace Joy: Let all the available light flow through you. Dance. Live in the sunshine. Reflect the light of others. Choose the light again and again and again.
Surrender and Release: Let go and let it be. Choose peace. Choose what is. Let it all go. Remember what matters most.
Stronger: You have what it takes. You are getting stronger every single day and I am so proud of you. Just keep at it. Give yourself grace and keep going. Try a tiny bit harder.
Yes You Can: You are amazing. You have proven again and again that you can do anything you set your mind to. So have faith in yourself. Work hard. Work smart. Do it for you. Do what you decide you want to. Keep at it. You can do it. Yes you can.
And then here are some notes I took as I was picking this word:
