The First Day of the Year

Happy New Year, everyone!

Wherever you are, I am hoping that you are feeling optimistic about what is ahead of you for this year. 

There is just something about a new calendar year that gives so many of us so much hope. We plan on changing things. We plan on being better than we were in the past. We often fail, but we keep on trying.

About a year ago, I decided that I was no longer going to make goals for myself. Now, don't get me wrong, I write AMAZING goals, but I never work on them. Last year, at this time, I decided to set some quests for myself. 

Again, quests are just renamed goals, but by thinking about what I want to accomplish in the amount of time I have left as a quest, I can be a bit more forgiving with myself when I do not get to the finish line. Rather, I can celebrate the progress that I have made on my journey. All steps are forward movement, so I haven't failed in accomplishing my goals, I have made strides toward reaching my destination.

It's a subtle difference, but one that has helped me immensely in my move away from perfectionist into being a bit more forgiving of my self.

Yesterday, I revealed my word for 2023 - transform. I started making a quest board - vision board - journey path. I sat down with my scrapbooking stuff and made a small card to put into my bullet journal. I wrote about some mistakes I made with my last quest board - I put it into my journal and then did not have it when I filled up that journal. This board will be moved from my current journal to the next one. I'll take pictures when I get things put together, but this board is a bit different from last year's.

Last year's colors were bright and vibrant. It was orange with pictures of brightly colored stars scattered around. Each area of my life was in a different block of white paper. Each category of quest was in a different color. It was bright and commanding.

Last year's word was "explore." I found myself a bit constricted after 2020 and 2021, and I wanted to reach out into the world of different things. I selected five areas to explore a bit more. My exploration quests were places, ideas, identity, health, and connection. I did not get to cross off many of the things that I wanted to explore over the year, but I did progress on increasing my knowledge in all these things.

This year's board is much more muted. The cover includes a picture of butterflies. some daffodils, and some inspirational words to keep me going. The card opens to some additional stickers, sayings, and my areas of focus. My areas are more place-oriented this year. I have decided on my quests being a bit more concrete. My 2023 categories are home, health, finances, places, and musictherapyworks.com. To be quite frank, this board is looking more like a goal board than a questing map. Time to shake myself out of my goal-orientation and into my questing mode. Perhaps I will take each of the things that I have already listed and turn them into quests - what are the reasons behind my goals? Why is this something that I want to accomplish? What benefit will I find if I make these things priorities? This will mean making a bit of a mess out of what I have already set onto paper, but that's not a bad thing for someone who prefers things to be snapping to grids and arranged the way she envisions it. I may even write on top of my writings... ooh, chaos!!

My quest for this year is to change things that I don't like in my life. I want to transform to the place where I can look back on my life today as a good place to be but not the end of my journey.

Thank you for coming along with me.

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