I know, it’s probably a bit late to talk about new year resolutions, but the truth is, I was so busy during January, experimenting with hundreds of routines, exercises and mantras (talk about what excessive podcast listening does to me!), that I don’t feel I truly settled on my focus for this year until now.
One of my big resolutions is to be more present in the moment (as corny as it sounds). A big part of that, is making sure I learn and grow from every single experience, regardless of whether it is good or bad or in between.
So these are the the top 3 things that January taught me:
I’d rather regret doing something, than regret not doing it.
I probably wasn’t the only one overwhelmed with all the articles and podcasts about setting intentions for the new decade and how 2020 has to be the best year yet and how this year we’ll achieve all our objectives, etc, etc. Honestly, I feel that it is not fair to put so much pressure and high expectations on a single year. Not that I don’t expect the year to be great, but because I feel that that usually stops people from taking action. You are so focused on planning and making sure everything will be perfect, that you forget to actually start.
That is why, this month I focused on simply starting whatever I had in mind. Not every idea worked, not everything went according to plan… but I feel that simply by acting upon those things, I am now in such a better place than I would be if I’d just planned for all of them. I know what I like, what I don’t and what I need to work on. You will never know unless you try!
Everyone wants a friend!
For some strange reason, I’ve made more friends this month that probably in my entire life (including freshers week!). And I don’t mean merely acquaintances. I mean real relationships which I’m hoping will last my entire life.
What changed? To be completely honest, this was in some ways an experiment. I’ve been doing a lot of interviews at my job lately and a big part of that involves “breaking the ice” with the other person and being able to engage into a friendly conversation. Most of the times, it only requires me to go past the usual “how are you doing?” to an outraging “what did you do during the weekend?”. Importantly, I then tell people something about myself and what I am up to. Everyone is used to a simple “yeah, great” or “good” response, but if you share a bit more, it is 98% likely that the other person will too.
In any case, I started using this same technique with random people in restaurants, church and events if I thought they’d be nice to hang out with. The result? Turns out everyone wanted to chat and was so grateful I was taking the first step.
Try it! Share a bit more about yourself in random conversation (make sure the other person is not a serial killer first), and then just enjoy the conversation that comes out of it.
Manifesting is a thing
I first read about this in The Secret, then it kept coming up in Marie Forleo’s content and then finally, I just became obsessed with it while reading You’re a Badass by Jen Sincero. It sounds a bit crazy at first, and I won’t attempt to explain it here because it’s a pretty complex concept to grasp if you are a beginner, but I suggest you check this out if you want to know more about it. Essentially, it is about visualizing what you’d like your reality to be with such detail, that it inevitably “materializes” before your eyes.
Obviously it is not that simple (well, it kind of is), but it requires you to open yourself to new opportunities, to be at the right frequency to attract what you want and to generally be extremely grateful for both what you currently have and what you are yet to receive.
In any case, this month freaked me out by how accurate the dreams which I had been writing for months, were suddenly not dreams anymore. I would 100% encourage people to write down their objectives and desires for the future, if only to want to cry out of happiness when you then read them and realize they are now a reality.
So that is, in a nutshell, what January has taught me. Hopefully the last two points didn’t freak you out too much and you decide to give it a go!
1st month of the new decade? Check. ✅
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