So I love Christmas, I mean Elf has nothing on me, but as soon as Boxing Day arrives, I could tear it all down because I'm so excited about starting the New Year.
It fills me with the same excitement as the first page of a brand new note book. The possibility, the intention, the creative energy are all streaming through me; it's almost like a physical high.
Amongst all the homemaking and Christmas magic making, my mind has been like a coiled spring waiting to unleash with all the ideas, hopes, dreams and good intentions I want to start come January 1st.
Last year was really clear and I had a real sense of direction, my word was TEND and I was going to look after my creative garden, do some weeding, cut back dead wood and really nurture what I had already planted. It worked better than I could have hoped. My brand and my books are in a place I am really happy with.
This year, the word is GROWTH and as if this word has a mind of its own, it's caused an almost insane burst of mental growth and inspiration in the last few weeks that has left me somewhat paralysed.
By now, I had visions of having my intentions all written up, my resolutions in print to be held for future accountability, my journal several days full, my business plan all colour coded and my diary all organised ... instead, it's day 10 and I'm still not sure entirely where to start -- there's just too much awesome I need to do - and so, like many occasions in life, the days are starting to pass by and I'm still not actuating my planning plan.
It's all there in my heart. My ambition, my targets, my objectives, my intentions, my passions, my will-power, but they're refusing at this stage to be confined to paper and lists and declarations.
What we have done is start our family resolution of 'Healthy Us, Healthy Planet, Healthy Piggy Bank' and as a result of that, I have refuelled my poor abandoned food blog called The Frugal Snob. The focus is slightly different in that it now about one woman's quest to save the planet, save her bank account, and save her expanding waist line, but the principle is the same. Learn to live more consciously and more conscientiously and then enjoy the abundance that comes from that.
My hubby and I have also dramatically cut down our alcohol consumption to just one treat night a week, which for folks that drank a bottle of wine with dinner every evening, is proving to be an interesting trip in our life journey. It's much much easier than I anticipated and I'm trying to ignore the subtle shifts in energy, motivation and well-being for fear that it's slightly psychosomatic and maybe a stark realisation of all the years we have abused our bodies and our time... One of the big incentives other than 'feeling better' is that by making this change (and it's quite a big one for us) we will save almost £1500 a year! Isn't that incredible. I've already spent it ten times over in my head - and it's all about travel and experiences, about truly living.
So I guess that even if I haven't written and planned and journaled my 2018 plans, at least we've started living them.
Who else here is slightly overwhelmed by the possibility and opportunities of 2018?