Happy New Year, and welcome to 2022!

I had to seize this moment to share a new post; the intention to do so has happened so often over the past few months that I have a looooong note in my phone with thoughts, ideas, and topics – “for the future,” I’d say to myself.

Even now isn’t an ideal time – I have a ton going on (when doesn’t that happen, right?) and oh yeah, I also have Covid. I am basically at the tail end of it (I think?) but I have lovingly infected my family despite my attempts to not do that.

I have so many ideas of what I want and need to share, and because the idea of it isn’t simple, it’s grown into a larger mountain of work and effort in my head. So starts the process of overwhelm – I think about it, maybe even add to the note I have, but put it aside for another day. “I should make an outline. Put the ideas in perfect order.” I definitely can’t post until that’s done.

*Adds another item to my to-do list.* Zero posts are made.

I am honestly surprised I actually acted on the impulse and this is happening. Ironically, I am typing all of this with no hesitation. The words were ready, even if I wasn’t. So, I am going to take the first step this year in breaking old habits like that, and start small. I might have to redirect every so often, too. It’s more important to start – whether it is with my writing, or a career or fitness goal. Nike’s slogan is famous for a reason – it’s simple. Just do it.

Get out of your own way.

If you’re not new here, you know I love to share not only my own experiences, but to share and curate anything that speaks to me. Today the thing I felt really called to share is a message that is too damn good not to share anywhere and everywhere, especially as we embark upon a new year. Alex Elle is a writer I first discovered on Instagram, and I just recently signed up for her newsletter (there are actually two – community and gratitude newsletter, and the link I am about to share is from the latter). You should go and do the same. Like, now.

Alex Elle’s letter of gratitude to her self doubt – “How I love others is not always how I love myself. I want that to change.” Same. Let us all remember that we are not our self-limiting beliefs, and be nicer to ourselves in 2022.

Another note I have in my phone is titled “Random thoughts.” Some are quick hits that I pick up after reading an interesting article; some are my own thoughts. I find it to be a really uplifting quick read every once in awhile. I will share some of the thoughts I wrote down:

Sometimes it takes setting out on the wrong path to find what was the right track all along. You are allowed to course-correct, you are allowed to change your mind.

There is a sweetness that comes from delighting in someone else’s wellbeing; it strengthens our capacity for joy.

• Clear is kind.

• PB&J: Personal boundaries + joy

• You are perfection unrealized.

• People only throw shade on what shines.

• Don’t ask what will happen. Be what happens.

• Living out who other people expect you to be at the cost of your own uniqueness is a spiritual betrayal

• My persistence is an insurance policy: when I apply myself, I know that my success is guaranteed.

• Do not plant seeds on concrete. It’s a waste of your water and frustrates the seed. Go plant yourself where you can bloom.

• Love is a creative act. When you love someone you create a new world for them.

• To write provides intellectual leadership 🙂

• Alchemize fear and limiting beliefs into your greatest power and light

• Our breath is like the ocean – waves crashing upon the shore upon exhale

• The idea that not believing in God is synonymous with not believing in yourself… we are one with God.

• Feelings are facts ‼️!

• Your feelings are always what construct the fabric of your reality

• No actions/mistakes are final, they just require adjustments

• Traumaversaries. That’s it, that’s the sentence.

• Efficiency is the highest form of beauty

• Downtime helps your uptime

• Growth mindsets & the power of ‘yet’

• Reverse engineer your dreams – timeframe, milestones, budget, resources needed

• Help others win. Helping other people win, learn, grow more, be happier, healthier, richer, and live more fulfilling lives will magically bring you everything you want in life.

• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder – everything in existence is beautiful- just waiting for the right observer to take notice.

• Work doesn’t have to be super glamorous to be engaging and fulfilling.

• Have a career river – don’t climb a career ladder – meaning not every career path is straight up.

• For God to do the super, I must do the “natural.”

• Work from a stable platform of honesty and practicality. Without this foundation, you will be hard pressed to establish any windows or walls.

• Lasting progress isn’t about being consistently great, it’s about being great at being consistent.

• Suffering and feeling inadequate are part of the shared human experience.

• When we find ourselves in what we don’t want to experience, we get to become radically clear on what we DONT WANT, from that vantage point, we then get to use our mind to dream up what we DO want to experience…

• If you are faced with a particularly tough situation, how can you use the mind to find the gift in that experience & how can that gift be used to dream up a better future?

• This power as a creator is in you whether you consciously choose to wield it or not. You are always creating or destroying with every thought and emotion you choose to hold.

• Do I want to live a values- or goals-driven life? The implication is not that you can choose only one of the two, but that you prioritize which motivates you more in your personal time, and whether striving for success or happiness is your ultimate purpose.

• WOOP – wish, outcome, obstacle, plan.

• The quest for purpose itself is important. Purpose and meaning are self-defined and may not have a clear end point.

• Contribution = happiness

• Can we please call off the search for the soulmate? A soulmate is not a thing. At least, it’s not a thing you can find. The chances that you have somehow located, attracted, bonded with, and contractually bound yourself to the only person who is the one perfect match for you are vanishingly small. We don’t find soulmates, like some fantastic shell on the beach. We become them. And as we do, the other person becomes ours. One of us is the waves and the other is the sand, and together we make the beach, changing the shape and passage of the other and maybe even bringing some amazing conches to the surface alongside the seaweed and knotted fishing wire.

• I like the definition of integrity as the state of being whole. Integrity is an alignment of what we feel and know, and how we behave and speak.

• What happens when we don’t physically SEE our friends is that our friends slowly stop feeling seen.

• You succeed at the level of your preparation.

• When everything falls apart, reinvention isn’t far behind. Reinvention interrupts the pattern.

• The best way to lead people is to walk behind them.

And in a hard left turn…

• Pisces is the unknown darkness of the waters. Water has no enemy, but also has no problem drowning that which gets in the way. Watch yourself.

Sorry had to – but I didn’t write this! Just… appreciated it 😂

Happy New Year! Have fun setting your goals, resolutions, intentions – whatever works for you. Likewise, if you didn’t set any – relax. Rest. Recover. These past few years have been A LOT.

xoxo