In just a few days, according to the standard calendar we use here in the US, it will be a new year.
At this time of year, a lot of people set goals and intentions for the upcoming year. Many coaches encourage their clients to do so. It makes sense. According to our calendar, one year is ending and another is beginning, which makes it a good time to examine what’s happened over the past twelve months and make plans for the next twelve.
You don’t have to, though. Just because the calendar says it’s time for a new year and people tell you that means it’s time for new goals and intentions doesn’t mean you have to set goals and intentions right now. It’s tradition, but you don’t always have to follow tradition.
This year, I sat down to set some goals and intentions and quickly realized I wasn’t in the best mindset to do so. I live with depression and Complex PTSD year-round, but at this time of year, between the waning of daylight and traumatic memories of past holidays, those conditions worsen. I struggle at times to even accomplish typical daily tasks, never mind think ahead to twelve months’ worth of days with tasks to accomplish. Every year, I try to push through it and set intentions and goals anyway; every year, I write things down because they sound good and then end up scrapping over half of them.
This year, as part of my new primary intention of showing myself compassion, I realized that I don’t have to plan out my entire upcoming year in December. I can choose to set my “new year” at a different time of year. Ostara, maybe (the spring equinox), or Midsummer. Or even my birthday, which is shortly after Midsummer. I can operate by the calendar that works best for me instead of trying to force myself to follow the human-made calendar that insists a new year is coming and that means it’s time for goals.
I have made some tentative plans for 2022. Look for me to offer more classes in channeling and energy healing, mostly still online at this point but maybe a handful in person if global health conditions permit. I will be focusing mainly on channeling sessions and instruction, as I have been most of 2021, but still also offering energy healing sessions and instruction. I’ll be looking at re-releasing some novels that were originally released by small presses and e-publishers years ago and which have been off the market for several years; those aren’t technically part of RiverEvolutions, but it’s still a thing I’m planning to do.
But I haven’t sat down and created a long list of goals and intentions and small steps and all the things coaches have told me I’m “supposed to” do at the end of the calendar year. I have accepted that in my usual December mindset, I’m simply not in a space to set goals and intentions for an entire calendar year, and that’s okay.
If you choose to set goals and intentions at this time of year, that’s absolutely your choice to make. But if you’re like me and struggle to make plans at this time of year, but find that a different time of year is when you have all the ideas and plans, give yourself a break and set a goal of setting goals at that different time of year.
Creating your life is about finding what works for you and operating within that framework, not forcing yourself into someone else’s box. For 2022, maybe your first goal can be letting yourself set goals when you’re in the right headspace rather than doing it when someone else tells you to.