I have often found Christmas a difficult time, my family were dispersed across the four corners of the world and I was a single female and often facing an uncertain future. I’d wonder which friend would invite me for the festive day so I could feel a part of something.
The holiday season can be a time of sadness and loneliness, instead of a time of celebration. But it is also perfect time to go inwards and shift that thinking and set yourself up for a new year and a new way of approaching life transitions like the end of a year.
Before my work as a life coach I would often find myself facing the next year and looking back at what I did or didn’t accomplish. Then I would make a list of things I wanted to change. Resolutions like losing weight, getting fit or finding a partner. It was all a bit random and done last minute.
But a staggering 80% of these New Year resolutions we all make, fail. Most of mine did.
I simply didn’t know then how to make these deeper desires actually happen. That came years later as my role as a life coach grew, and I understood how to support people to make these changes happen. I also made them happen in my own life.
It’s much easier to make those changes with someone supporting you by your side. Most of us need someone who held us accountable to our bigger life goals. Someone that can spot our blind side be our cheerleader, and challenger at the same time.
I encourage my clients to use the transition to a New Year as an opportunity to do a realistic stock-take on the past year and to set some big picture goals for the next 12 months. Don’t just zone in on one area in your life – like love or business. Try and cover your broader life like personal development, purpose, passion, health and wellbeing, family, relationships, career, home etc.
Then see how you want to shift these. Not with resolutions, but with clear life strategies. Mine are things like accepting myself as I am, being kinder to myself, building my business internationally and with clear focus, laughing more, finishing writing my book and supporting and inspiring others.
What do you need for the next year and can you write that down in a way that both inspires you, and holds you accountable. Can you open that list come next year and see how you have created a smooth path to change?
Wishing everyone a very happy festive season.