New Year - Refresh, Re-calibrate and Restart?

I know this time of year isn't for everyone. Memories of resolutions failed rather than achieved can weigh heavily.

For me, it's a time to refocus and reflect, to check that I'm on track and doing what I want (and also need) to be doing. To be frank, I love a new start; I've moved a lot and had a fair few jobs in my time, so I always see new year as an opportunity to once again start again. Now, like everyone else, I like to have a long list of resolutions, but I tend now to see these as New Year's Intentions (NYIs - I'm sure this won't catch on). Ultimately, I am a pragmatist and I know that I will more likely give up, fail, or not even try with most. But still, I am of the generation that was told to Aim High and so I will write that list of unbelievable intentions, no matter the outcome.

I did well this morning. I got up early and did an exercise class, proving to myself that I can do this - if I really want. I know myself well enough, though, to know this will not become my 2021 habit. My NYIs are opportunities to experiment, to try (or not) a new way of working or being. For this year, I - of course - have all the usual stuff (I'm going to try to look after myself better, to be a better parent and enjoy playing endless games of hide and seek, and to eat less takeaways), but my main aim is to worry less about whether I succeed or not. My dad once said to me I'll always be striving for the next thing, and he was right. I feel I could do with a little less striving in my life. And so here is to a year of being.

What I really want to do this year is to ensure I have time to refresh, re-calibrate and restart throughout the year - to focus less on climbing a never ending staircase and take time instead to look around and enjoy where I am.

I am going try to find time for things I do enjoy and give myself time to try something new - not necessarily so that I can undertake an impact assessment of what I have achieved by midnight on December 31st, not so I can have a tangible output, but so I am better at doing and being - even if that is, at times, doing absolutely nothing (something I am actually getting increasingly better at.