New Year Musings

 

As I prepare for the new year I like to think on fresh goals for myself as well as take a moment to ponder the good and challenging experiences of the previous year to see what wisdom might be applied for the upcoming year ahead. I figure there’s not much use in racking my brain for fresh ideas before first remembering and learning from history so I can then better cultivate a list of ways to improve my failures and also highlight the positives that I encountered and be sure to build in opportunities to multiply those. 

My greatest blessing this year was the birth of my son. As we approach January and his first birthday I can’t help but feel immense gratitude to God for sending me this wonderful, beautiful, magnificent, lovely, sweetheart of a son.  

On the flip side some of my greatest challenges and learning experiences this year came from transitioning as a mom of one to adding a second child to the family. The stress of having a toddler and a newborn brought to light different facets of my personality: both the good and the ugly. Motherhood has a wonderful way of doing that. One minute it feels like your heart can’t possibly contain anymore joy and the next your hormones have you feeling quite the opposite; especially in those early days where sleep is almost non existent. 

"Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn't know you had." 

 

While I’m still sorting out the best method to squash sibling rivalry over shared toys, I’ve gotten the hang of having two children pretty much down pat now. I look back on the year and almost smirk at my inhibition to venture out of the house with both children solo parenting. I’ve come a long way! And it’s good to take a moment to reflect over the course of the year at seemingly small victories such as these. Giving yourself a little pat on the back and seeing what is to be carried forth or what needs to be changed. 

"There's no way to be a perfect mother but a million ways to be a good one."

Growing up we always left our Christmas tree up until the first of the year. I was told it was bad luck to take the tree down before then. In recent years I have been itching to begin my new year with a fresh slate so I actually like to start taking down the decor little by little as soon as Christmas is over. By this point I’m tired of the overstimulation of holiday decorations that have been up for months and I’m just looking for a calm, clean space to begin anew. 

This year I've begun removing decor from one area at a time and then cleaning that space. I find it a lot easier to deep clean without extra decor about and I really prefer to do my "spring cleaning" in the winter! Why? Because I don't want to waste a single beautiful spring day cleaning indoors when we could be outside enjoying the beautiful sun-shining weather! 

Today I removed the wreaths from my outside patio. I chunked dead flowers from my garden window box and the urns, wiped down the table and chairs, pulled weeds from the garden bed, windexed the door glass panels and finally blew off the porch. It looks a little bare but it's a clean slate and I appreciate the simplicity of the barrenness after months and months of decor.

I also was able to accomplish removing the decor from the kitchen and begin the deep cleaning process by starting with the fridge. I tossed any overlooked expired items, wiped it down and organized it.

I take down the tree last because it is the nicest decor and I do enjoy the lights at night. I'd say that this year with two kids about that it will definitely take me until the New Year to get to taking down the tree-- so bad luck believers, have no fear! 

"There is nothing in nature that blooms all year long, so don't expect yourself to do so either."

There was a scientific experiment performed on sequoia trees in California. Scientists injected these majestic, massive trees with a derivative similar to adrenaline to prevent them from going into hibernation. They wanted to see if they used their usual hibernation period to continue to grow if they would become even bigger and stronger. Sadly, the opposite occurred. Without their rest period, these gargantuan trees began to wither and die. So as you can see, I quite agree with the quote above and the sentiment behind it. 

As humans we push ourselves constantly to be always blooming, always producing. I know I'm really stretching here with an analogy of these sequoia trees to my home decor but it is a symbolism within my home and it brings me peace. I have come to enjoy the barrenness and simplistic scenery of minimalism for a short while. It enables me to dig deep and clean and it's also symbolic of a hibernation period as winter commences. A time for reflection. A time for peace and calmness. A time for pairing down after a season of gearing up. A hibernation period, if you will. 

I don't know how to convey or stress this enough that I literally use my surroundings as a metaphor for my goals in the new year. I take this time of minimalism not only outwardly but inwardly as well. I use these weeks to tie up any loose ends that have been hanging over my head or that I've procrastinated on. I mail the cards, I make the calls, and just generally try to tackle anything on my list that I've been avoiding so the new year begins fresh. 

A friend recently sent me an idea to do a prayer board for the new year. It's sort of like a vision board but it's for well, prayers 😊 What exactly would this look like? You might have a little envelope on there where you could keep answered prayers! How special would it be to read those aloud on New Year's Day! I've never made one but I am very interested in it because one of my goals for this year is to pray about it before I talk about it. (But mostly more like pray about it before I complain about it) 😅 

There's also a great family idea to set a jar out with slips of paper and throughout the year you can jot down something your grateful for or special that happened or that a member of the family did nice for you and then take turns reading them aloud on New Years. We tried this one year when my daughter was younger but we didn't make it past Valentine's Day. 

Since having the baby a few things have fallen to the wayside like my Bible reading and piano playing. In the new year I plan to spend less time on my phone and more time reading. For Christmas I received a floral arranging book so these last couple of days I've ended my night by perusing through my book instead of scrolling through my phone. 

I do have goals, dreams and visions in my head for this upcoming year but I don't feel comfortable sharing them all. I've heard it said that if you share a desire of yours out loud with others that it produces a dopamine reaction and in turn is counterintuitive to you completing that goal. Your brain views that boost of dopamine as enough and it lowers your drive to attack and accomplish that goal.

However, I do have some goals that recirculate each year and I intend to get organized and focused on refreshing and reiterating them in the new year.  Like most people, I do intend to prioritize my health. But this year I'm including my whole health! Mental health (boundaries, stress management, self care), physical fitness (cardio, stretching and strength training) and continuing to focus on increasing the intake of healthy fruits, vegetables and water as well as home cooked from as close to scratch meals as possible.  

I plan to make a grocery list of freezer friendly meals and stock my freezer so we have those home cooked meals on hand for times of business or illness. I've already cleaned my fridge out and organized it so it's ready to be stocked. In the last week, I've already gotten a head start on my workouts by doing a gentle stretching and strength training exercise for 20 minutes a day. 

I have very big dreams for the new year. I've been praying hard about one in particular and I have high hopes that this is the year it comes to fruition! I encourage you to spend some time in thought remembering the highs and lows of the year and what you can do to take serious accountability and produce change for the new year. Perhaps you have a habit you'd like to break or there's something you wish would become a habit. The pain of breaking a habit is short lived but think of where you'll be next year at this time if you make the change now. We only have this one short life and I hope this is the year we will all make it count. 

~Crissy