Tis the season…for reflection
First of all, to all my friends who celebrated Thanksgiving this week, I hope it was happy and gratitude filled. At my house, we are now full steam ahead into the Christmas season.
In addition to celebrating the holidays, I feel like December is also a natural time to reflect on the past year…celebrate successes, contemplate lessons learned, and consider areas for desired change in the coming year.
In that spirit, I won’t be setting my usual monthly goals for December. I’ll reserve my time and energy for the above-mentioned reflection and celebration. So here is November’s goal-check blog post minus the new goal portion.
Health and fitness
I couldn’t choose between two goals for this month, so I decided to tackle them both:
- Research the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen (regarding buying organic) and incorporate them into my grocery shopping. Mission accomplished. I have been buying organic whenever I purchase produce on the Dirty Dozen list. Otherwise, I go with whichever looks most fresh.
- Gently hold space for sleep, rather than trying to cajole or force it. This is an ongoing effort, but I have definitely felt a shift away from striving and towards relaxation. In addition, I listened to The Doctor’s Guide to Falling Asleep Naturally, a mindbodygreen class, and actually heard some tips I hadn’t tried before. They seem to be helping.
Joy
Update my Jolts of Joy list and create a Possibilities List…you know, sort of like a Bucket List, but with less pressure. Then incorporate at least one of these items each day. Mission accomplished. I found that I actually do several things on my Jolts of Joy list most days without even trying…but being intentional about the activities has added to the enjoyment.
Learning and growth
Complete the mindbodygreen coaching course. For November, this means one week of coursework and taking the final exam. Mission accomplished. As you have probably heard…I haven’t been shy about announcing it…I completed the coursework and passed the final exam. I am awaiting my official certificate. If you’re curious about the program, I did a full review here.
Relationships
Send at least one handwritten thank you note. Mission accomplished times two. I mailed two thank-you notes!
Your turn
So that’s what I’ve been up to this month. Now it’s your turn.
- What have you been doing in November?
- Do you have any fun plans for December?
- Do you plan to set a New Year’s Resolution, choose a Word of the Year, make a vision board, or perform any other type of looking forward for the new year?
- What else is on your mind? Anything at all; I just love to hear from you.
Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay
For me November was a month of getting organized, especially online, deciding what I want to keep doing & how I’ll do it going forward. *Light* is my 2024 guiding word of the year and it’s been a good one, versatile and attainable. Hoping to find lots of light in December.
I could stand to do some online organization, Ally. I may follow your lead soon. In the meantime, wishing you much light in December!
Hi Christie, my goal for December is to live in the moment, trust the plan, and take a deep breath when things go wrong. Congratulations on passing your course. That is a significant accomplishment. I love writing thank-you notes, too. Tomorrow, I will go into full-on Christmas mode!
I love your December goal, Suzanne. Good luck with it and enjoy the holiday season!
Hi Christie – I like how you’re allowing December and Christmas the space to just evolve, rather than trying to script it all. I did my sum up of Spring a couple of weeks ago – and it’s nice to now look forward to Summer here in Australia. I put our Christmas tree up yesterday and we hung some lights outside, but we’re keeping it low key because our daughter is hosting Christmas this year – Yay!!
How lovely to pass the torch and enjoy our children hosting the holidays on occasion! We are going low-key with Christmas decor as well. I did hang a wreath on my door and set out a small Christmas tree. I have set our house lights to a Christmas pattern and am listening to lots of Christmas music–one of my favorite things about the season.
I admire you for setting goals and working on them. I don’t do well with goals. I love lists, so if I put the steps of a task in my list, they will get done because I cannot rest until all items are scratched off. This is probably the same thing as having goals, but I irrationally rebel against working on a goal. 🙂
I also do not believe in new years’ resolutions. I do like the word for the year: I haven’t chosen mine yet.
Thanks for the kind words, Marina. I agree that checking things off the to-do list is a great way of setting and achieving goals…without having to call them that. I don’t mind setting a goal, but I rebel against a New Year’s resolution, which is basically the same thing. Funny how our minds work.
Great to see your post Christie and I can feel the peace radiating from your words. My November has been quite hectic and I’m hoping to have some space to breathe in coming weeks but I’m not sure its the time of year that allows much space. Take care and thanks for joining us for #WBOYC, all the best for December.
Wishing you breathing space and peace in December, even if it comes in small bits. Take care of yourself this busy season!
Christie – I’d love for you to share your updated Jolts of Joy, especially the ones you’ve added into daily living. I’m in need of an updating on mine, especially given our changed living situation. I did do an “I did it list” for November (not sure I’ll blog about it…), and it helped me to see that even in the mess our life is in at the moment, there were many moments of joy and fun. December will be quiet; I need to come to terms with how we are living for the foreseeable future.
Hello Pat. I’m glad to hear that you are able to find little moments of joy amidst the chaos. That’s no small thing under the circumstances. Some of my daily joys are intentionally savoring my morning cup of coffee, listening to music carefully chosen for me in that particular moment (mostly Christmas music right now), watching Shrinking (which is the perfect combination of funny and touching for me), and doing an easy calming yoga sequence before bed each night.
Hi sis, I would love to hear the new tips you learned concerning sleep. I feel like I hear the same advice over and over.
I don’t make New Years resolutions. Probably because when I used to i didn’t stick with them for long. I like the idea of a word for the year.
Writing notes is so nice, for the sender and the receiver. ☺️ I look forward to seeing you lots during the holidays!
I agree, Cindy, I’ve tried most of the sleep advice that’s out there. The biggest changes I’ve made recently are cutting off fully-caffeinated drinks at noon (for the most part); wearing orange glasses after sunset (when I am at home…they look like safety goggles); using orange nightlights in my bathroom; and designing a nightly bedtime routine that includes my gratitude journal, an easy calming yoga sequence, and a progressive relaxation practice once I’m in bed. If you are interested in watching the full course, I can send you a link. It costs $45, but for me it was worth it. (Of course, I can also tell you what I recall from the course for free. 😉)
I had plans for a quiet December work-wise, with hopes for being able to take a fair bit of leave before the year ends, but one client and my employer’s future plans have skuppered that notion. I do have a lot of thinking to do about the future as a result of the latter, so this is frustrating. But it’s been one of those years, so not entirely surprising, and what caused me to feel extreme levels of anger during the summer is now being met with shrugs.
I’d not heard the term Dirty Dozen before, and while I knew that certain fresh produce was more susceptible to pesticide absorption, your post prompted me to seek out the list – so thank you 🙂
Life has a way of messing with our best-laid plans, doesn’t it, Debs? I hope things settle down for you soon. And you’re welcome for the introduction to the Dirty Dozen. I hadn’t heard of it either. Evidently, they update it every year based on the most recent testing.