Hello, 2023!
Good morning, friends and Happy New Year!
I hope your holidays were spectacular and that you rang in the New Year with love, laughter, and cheer!
The holiday season can be a time of great joy, closeness and excitement, but it can also be stressful, sad, and exhausting. It’s important to make space for all of these contradicting emotions and feelings. They are all valid. I hope you had the first option of joy, closeness and excitement. I hope you wrapped your family and friends in love, got to spend tons of time with the people that mean the most to you— that’s what it’s all about after all. But, if this season was a little extra hard for you and you were stressed, sad, exhausted. and overwhelmed I send my love to you. It’s okay, or it will be. You’ve got this.
And now we’re in a New Year with a fresh start— the first page of a new notebook. How are you going to write your story? What do you want to do and learn this year? This is the perfect time to reset your intentions and focus on your story. The busyness of the holidays are over and the clarity of January 1st is here.
“The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible”- Vladimir Nabokov.
This quote has always been a favourite of mine. I remember writing it at the start of my Grade 12 Writer’s Craft notebook and it was with me for every project. As a writer the imagery and reality of what he’s saying has always spoken to me. The scene is just sitting there itching to come out. I just have to gently nurture it by asking the right questions.
When I set out to write a story, or scene, I look to each character and ask what is their “Want”. What do they want from this particular scene or story— what are they trying to achieve? This is the first step in story writing. You have give your characters, each of them, a motivation and a direction towards a goal. Otherwise what are they doing?
Ask yourself this question. You have a blank notebook in front of you called 2023. What do you want from it? If you’re not sure ask yourself this follow up question: What is it that makes you happy? You should do more of whatever that is.
Now, I don’t really like the idea of New years Resolutions. By definition a resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something. It doesn’t give us space to struggle, be messy, or fail a time or two. It feels too finite: you either win or you lose. That’s not constructive or helpful, because life is made of these little grey spaces between winning and losing. Life is made of limitless possibilities and the struggles of experiences along the way. Setting a Goal is even tough because it limits the possibilities that come up as you learn.
I like to set intentions. I intend to live intentionally—paying attention to each moment and working each day to be more myself and follow my heart. My objectives are specific and also broad— they are also not limited to a timeline and can go beyond 2023. I have BIG things that I want to achieve- but I am trying to break them down and make them feasible and less overwhelming. I’m trying live intentionally each day with each success leading to the bigger picture of my life. Let’s set the intention of tuning into our bodies and learning what is best for our health because each person is different. Let’s set the intention of moving our bodies each day and finding grace for those days where only some stretches feel right.
An intention is an aim or a plan. It is flexible and understanding. Let’s find the grace to be understanding and flexible with ourselves. Not every day will be the same. We’ll need different things on different days and being hard on ourselves creates this negative space of defeat. On a hard day where perhaps all you did was get up and had some food, you achieved a whole lot. I read once that on a day where you could only give 40%, you in fact did give 100% of what you were able to give simply by showing up.
Interestingly, when you look at the definition of intention it also has a medical definition: the healing process of a wound. I nearly gasped when I saw that. It’s more healing to have an intention then a resolution. It’s freeing to know that you can be flexible and understanding as you face this new year. Set up some daily intentions to keep you grounded and mindful of how you want your life to be. Your life is happening each day, not years down the road, or when you achieve that goal or thing you really want to do. It’s every single day. Connect with yourself and your passions. Throw your heart into yourself each day. You’ll find that each day is a day worth living and with each day you get closer to finding yourself.
And on the days when it’s a little tougher, remember it’s okay to slow down, to rest and take a break. Do it intentionally and you won’t feel so bad about it later.
Happy 2023 friends! Thanks for being part of my notebook!
As always, be gentle with yourself,
Katrina
xo
