We are not our goals.
Yes career goals and resolutions towards career advancement are important but we’ve seen how careers can topple in the blink of an eye. Health goals are fulfilling but for many the “quarantine 15” was the comfort you needed to make it through these past few years. Many people started 2020 with grandiose resolutions and the world saw how we shifted away from these goals towards simply surviving and living. Same goes for 2021.
The textbook definition of a resolution is to make a firm decision towards something; whereas an intention is simply a plan. Last year has shown us that sometimes we need to have a plan set in place that can easily be molded while we enjoy life to the fullest or when we are simply trying to keep our heads above water.
Let’s Be Intentional in Everything We Do
With 2022 wide ahead of us, let’s be intentional in everything we do. Set your intention to eat healthy but still feel nourished when we seek out comfort foods during tough times.
Let’s make intentions to foster positive relationships in your community but have grace with yourself when you have a vent session or two.
Be intentional in how you parent to combat the skeletons that could grow in your closet.
Most importantly make an intention to love and be patient with ourselves.
An Intention to Heal
As I sat snuggled up in my son’s room watching him play his video game while his younger brother consistently jumped off the bed, I thought about what I wanted the most important part of this post to be.
And here it is. Along with an intention being an aim or plan, an intention is used in the medical world to mean the healing process of a wound. For many families living along the beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast, 2020 and 2021 are wounds that are still healing. This intention or wound was caused by job loss, foreclosures, shorter paychecks, heightened emotions, and an increase in insecurities.
Some Days I will Be Intentional and Some Days I Won’t
Post COVID, I felt like I crushed no goals. Was a boss babe to no businesses, and utterly felt confused. Should I be working on continuing to reach the goals I set out for myself at the start of last year or cocoon for the remaining year? Needless to say, I cocooned for the rest of the year and spent the time learning how to be mindful and intentional in all things I do.
Now I feel rebirthed thanks to a fresh start to a new year. I understand now that my goals are not rigid. Some days I will be intentional about reaching them and some days maybe not as much. But at the end of this year, I believe I will feel so much lighter in affirming that I made more progress in life by purposefully being intentional towards what I choose to focus on.
My Challenge
My No New Year’s resolution challenge for you is to pick an intention preferably a daily or weekly intention that you know your mind, body, spirit, or all three areas need and focus on this. Move away from the focus of a fixed New Year’s resolution for the remainder of this year.
Let your first intention be an intention that fits your life and your soul. Ride the waves of this year, leave rigidness, resolutions, and your way or the highway behind, and see how much happier you can feel.
