It's mid January and by this time of year most New Year’s resolutions are at least halfway out the window, if not fully given up on. We blame ourselves. We feel guilty and “bad” because we just can’t get motivated to follow through on our goals. We ask ourselves the inevitable question: What’s wrong with me?? Why can’t I just get going with what I want for the year? Wait, do I even know what I want for the year?! Why don’t I know?!!
Ok, let’s start by taking a deep breath. Also, it’s not your fault. No seriously, it’s not. Why? Because our culture operates under a different calendar and time management style. It dictates messages that say we should know everything we want for the next year by January 1st and easily implement all changes immediately without feeling challenged by them. These changes should be “easy” because if it’s what we want, it should be. There is also no encouragement to reflect on the previous year and take all it has to offer into the new year. Our society seems to want to just skip right over the previous year and catapult to the next without looking back. How can you know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been? In the end, all of these messages combined create a lot of unnecessary stress and lead right to feeling like we’re failing by mid-January.
This time of year, the winter season, nature dictates otherwise. Nature says, slow down, sleep, it’s time for rest, deep rest. It’s not time to move at lightning speed and know everything about what’s coming. It’s time to go within, sit in the darkness, gaining insight and wisdom from the previous year and what you intend for yourself in the new year. It’s time for your body to rest and prepare for the awakening of Spring. It’s a time of deep growth as you move towards lighter and longer days.
3 Ways to Get Your New Year Going in a Gentle and More Compassionate Way
1. Remind yourself that it’s the season for slowing down.
Know that if you are feeling low energy, have little to know motivation, feel the need for more rest and sleep, and have difficulty coming up with clear goals for the new year, it’s not your fault! Perhaps you’re just not honoring the season and what your body is calling you to do naturally. Instead, lean into the slowness and stillness of the season, take more time to rest and reflect on where you’ve been in this past year. Doing so will give you information about what is important to leave behind, take with you, and what your heart desires most for the following year.
2. Stay tuned into your body.
Notice if your body begins to feel depleted, if you lose steam or motivation, and see what happens if you take time to rest instead and gently explore what your body is saying it needs. Maybe it just needs a little break, maybe it needs to put that project down until later, maybe it needs a full on nap. Whatever it is, your body is constantly letting you know what it needs. Tune in and listen.
3. Don’t ask too much of yourself.
Honor the pace of the season and more importantly of your body. Knowing what you have the bandwidth for and setting up appropriate boundaries for yourself around that will help you manage stress, move with more ease and feel more accomplished. When we set up unrealistic expectations for ourselves we will always end up feeling like we’re failing. Be realistic with what you expect out of you. Be kind and compassionate with what you and your body need.
Learning to honor the season and how our body is responding, is an important way to keep moving forward without the added baggage of feeling like we’re doing something wrong. As you move slowly through the season, and give yourself plenty of time for rest and reflection, the seeds of creativity will begin to grow and what you intend for yourself in the upcoming year, will reveal itself to you in time. Just like the daffodil leaf buds that grow to reveal that beautiful yellow flower. With ample time to rest, you will allow your budding flower from within to emerge within with more ease.
WILD Woman Success Tip:
Challenge yourself to spend the next few weeks of winter slowing down and resting more. Give yourself permission to move more slowly and with more intention. Notice what happens when you honor your body's rhythm instead of trying to follow a rhythm
that doesn't align with the season and your natural rhythm.
Myriam Martinez is an Art Therapist & Women's Creative Life Coach, and stick figure artist based out of Northern California. She gently guides women to embrace their Woman-ity© and love themselves fiercely through the power of the creative process. Her calling in this life is to teach women the power and importance of putting themselves first, loving themselves fiercely, and tapping into their creativity in order to bring more happiness, success, and ease into their lives
. To learn more about Myriam click here: https://www.myriammartinezcoaching.com/