Two Questions...

Two weeks left in 2024.

Two questions to consider:

1) How do you want to arrive at 2025?

Who do you want to be when you open the door into 2025’s embrace?

Most of us tend to wait for the new year to arrive without as much emphasis on how we want to arrive at the new year.

In this equation, the certain part is that 2025 will be here in a finite number of days (16), hours (384), and minutes (23,040). The variable in the equation, the thing that can be changed, is how we will arrive to greet 2025 when the clock hits midnight on 12.31.

Admittedly, the finite part of the equation (16 days until 2025) can create pressure to change things about ourselves in a tight time window, so let’s first resolve to not play that stressful game.

Instead, let’s have fun with the image of who we want to be when we open that door to 2025. Answers like, “I want to be in a place that is more calm and slow than I am in currently,” are not only concrete and attainable, but they also inform our second question…

2) How and where will you spend your energy in these last days of the year?

So, having considered how we want to arrive at 2025, we can now get to work on our game plan for making that happen.

Imagine for a moment that the next two weeks are focused only on making intentional decisions around what is best for you, what you need for rejuvenation. Write down what how and where you would spend your energy – this is list #1.

Now, make a second list of the family, work, travel, etc. obligations for the next two weeks, noting which things are set and which ones are negotiable – this is list #2.

In a 2023 poll of Americans, 50% of people find the holidays stressful. I think a significant part of this is that we tend to let list #2 control how the last weeks of the year are spent, sometimes to the point that we don’t even get around to making list #1. Or if we make the list of what we need for ourselves during this time, it becomes a far lower priority. As in, remembering on New Year’s Eve, “Oh yeah, those were the things I was hoping to do to feed my soul and heal in these last weeks. Where did the time go?”

What if, in these last weeks of 2024, you have the courage to make list #1 a priority, finding ways to make list #2 support, not defeat, your personal goals for the holidays?

Put the two lists side by side and see what comes to mind. Could you modify list #2 right now so that it was more consistent with supporting list #1?

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I hope these two questions allow you to strategize for a healthy holidays and look forward to seeing you in 2025. 

A very happy winter break and winter holidays to each of you!

 

p.s. I hope the Litmus family, wherever they may be, is excited that I chose their GIF for today's blog. And if you happen to see them, let them know about the two questions above, please.