A Year in Review and a New Year of YOU!

Posted on 31 December 2010

I spent yesterday reviewing 2010.  I made a list of stand-out events and actions in my year and spent some time looking it over.  I even read it aloud to two of my good friends.  And I noticed some trends.

One is that I had some experiences you might call failures:  I started a podcast and didn’t get it off the ground.  I took a scouting trip to another country to check out a retreat location that didn’t work out.  I tried some marketing techniques that fell flat.  I had a relationship dead end before I even saw it coming.  I got angry at an ex and expressed it with a profane text I’m tempted to wish I’d never sent.  But I did.

And I accept that.  There were gifts in each, and in hindsight, I’m proud of each one.  Even the angry text.  That incident, and the others, stretched me, redirected me, made me dive deep and look at myself.  And in that, I grew.  Shoot, I hardly recognize myself when I look in this mirror of memory!  I’m a more confident, whole-hearted, self-accepting version of who I was even a year ago, and that couldn’t have come without weathering the feelings of rejection, anger, and incompetence that came with my ‘failures’.

There were also obvious highlights and gifts in the year: The best birthday party I can remember!  A trip to Big Sur with my friend Amy.  More road trips to attend the most amazing business trainings I could have imagined. Starting my newsletter.  Getting positive reviews on Yelp.com.  Finding my Dance Jam class. Hosting Thanksgiving dinner for thirteen of my family-friends… yep, those were all highlights!

And then there were the people who filled my year:   My parents and several Alaska friends who visited me.  My neighbor and the handyman of my apartment building who looked after me.  Ladies in a book club I joined.  Colleagues I met throughout the year.   New clients who became part of my weekly or monthly schedule – all of whom I adore!  And girlfriends who supported me like only great girlfriends can!  When I think of the community of people who have formed around me this year, I am blown-over, tears-welling-up grateful.

What REALLY hits me though, is that the times I thought I was spinning my wheels, making no progress, and wasting time, I wasn’t.  I made great strides in the directions I wanted to go and I accomplished a ton this year!  I tend to have a warped perception of self-expectation and timelines, and it’s the longer review that sets me straight.  To be frank, I don’t think I’m alone in that.

In fact, that’s why I share this.  I encourage you to take a review of your year too.  Write it out, talk it out, or mentally travel the timeline of 2010.  Revel in the perspectives that only hindsight can bring and honor what you’ve done, who you’ve been, and how far you’ve come. Then call it all good.  Close it out with gratitude and start your new year with a clean slate of appreciation and expectation that even more good is on its way to you now.

Then set an intention.  Something simple and clear for your next year.  Try out a word or a phrase that you choose to embody or live from.  Mine?  It’s Full Permission.  In 2011, I have full permission to be my biggest, more radiant self, because friends, I’ve only just begun.

Love to you!  Blessings on you!  Cheers to 2010 and who you have been.  Cheers to 2011 and who you are becoming.

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Want help and support in your review of 2010 and your intentions for 2011?  Schedule a New Year, New You session with me and we’ll do it together.    Email me for details or click HERE to schedule.