Looking Ahead: 2020
Dearest 2020, I’m looking ahead!
What do you have in store for me? And what do I want to try and make true for myself?
If everything goes as planned with our Family Gap Year, our year will be divided into two distinct periods: January through May in Austin. June through December in other countries.
Let me focus on January through May first and save the possible Family Gap Year for another time.
In 2020, I want to pick up where I left off last year with my unreached goals related to healing my past wounds and feeling healthy and strong. Specifically, that will look like therapy three times per month (that’s all that fits in the budget or else I would do every week!).
In terms of health, I want to spend time focusing on my family’s health and my own. Specifically, I want to make sure the boys are eating healthy meals and getting enough nutrients. For myself, I want to make daily smoothies for breakfast, pack a healthy lunch and snacks, walk for an hour at least 4 times per week, try to run at least 2 times per week, drink 80 ounces of water a day, and primarily snack on fruits and vegetables.
Whenever I’m adding new things into my life, I first try to acknowledge the things I want to maintain. I have to make sure the “pipe” doesn’t get too full. I want to maintain everything I did this year to stoke the warm fire of community in my life. I want to have monthly Saturday Suppers, bi-weekly pizza dates with neighbors, and a potluck with the neighbors on our cul-de-sac. I want to maintain our annual rituals, like birthday parties and Valentine’s Day. I want to have an awesome Spring Break as a family. At my job, I have a set of things I’m working on at work to strengthen how it feels to work with me.
I want to focus on how I show up at home, too. I want to leave my stress at work. I want to spend more energy focused on the positive. I want to feel relaxed and present with my family. I want to make sure that we are all getting our needs met. I want our family to feel like a participatory democracy. I want us to face stress with patience and openness. I want to meet my children where they are, to meet their needs, and to rest assured that everything will turn out fine.
Am I committing to too much? How can I synthesize it into one paragraph? Here’s my attempt:
2020 is my year to lean into my life. At home, I want to feel relaxed and present with my family. I want to leave my stress at work. I want to spend more energy focused on the positive. I want to make sure that we are all getting our needs met. I want our family to feel like a participatory democracy. I want to meet my children where they are, to meet their needs, and to rest assured that everything will turn out fine. I want to enact daily habits that will leave us feeling healthy. At work, I want to work with others in a way that makes them feel deeply affirmed for who they are and inspired to continue to grow. Overall, I want to be able to say that I feel connected to others, I’m doing purposeful work in the world, and I’m making the most of my one wild and precious life.