Shine Your Light: 24 in 24

“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

Do you feel it? The mounting pressure to plan, create, set goals, be in motion and action, to do something, to be something? With the end of one year and the beginning of another there seems to be an energy whipping around that almost feels frenzied. We are firmly into the new year and yet everywhere I turn I still see messages about resolutions, intentions, goals, and expectations for making this year the “best year ever.” But what if I already had a great year and I don’t to be in competition with myself or others to make it even better? What if I don’t want to be pressured to change who I am or to accomplish something “big and great” (and by whose standards are we defining big and great, anyway?!)? I’m not saying don’t set goals or intentions if that’s your thing and it’s a healthy way of thinking for you. But I think sometimes the societal norms to always be in motion can cause us to miss great opportunities to simply pause and just “be” with yourself in a moment of rest and reflection.

The ending of one year and the beginning of another is a natural time to check in with yourself. But instead of leaping straight into the new, what if we took some time and checked in with ourselves in a supportive, celebratory way?

• How was your past year? How were your stress levels? What were your joys? How much did you laugh? What adventures did you take? What were things you’d hoped for that did or didn’t materialize? What made the year unforgettable? What was your biggest win in the last year? What’s one thing that changed about yourself (change is good!)?

At the beginning of 2023 I had created a list of things I wanted to do in the year, and I must confess, I wasn’t very good about remembering to check it, and consequently, only a few things were done that I’d written down. 

• Explore estate sales with my bestie.
• Take a weekend trip to NW Arkansas to relax.
• Visit the Lauritizen Gardens in Omaha. 
• Collect stories from Sherrill (incredibly grateful I did this before it was too late).
• Enjoy live music. 

But, in reflecting on my year, I also remembered that a lot of things were accomplished and experienced that I never even dreamed to put on my list… things like:

• Enroll in and complete a holistic coach training program.
• Create a business.
• Change jobs and try something new.
• Make a new lifelong friend.
• Unwind from years of toxic work stress levels.
• Cross off another state visited from the remaining list.
• Try earthing.

Did you end your year intentionally with reflections on the past and plans for the new?

While our lists and intentions can feel like a great starting point and something to perhaps guide the year, it also feels as though our lists can potentially box us in and prevent us from noticing the amazing things happening that we never even planned for. I love lists, but I think I’m going to start to include some blank lines at the bottom, to remind myself to remain open to those meaningful moments that life unexpectedly brings into my path.

“And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

A few months ago I stumbled upon the idea of creating a list of things to experience in the new year based on the numbered year we were in… such as, “24 in ’24” – meaning, 24 things in 2024. I’ve started my year with this framework and find it’s really resonating with me over setting intentions or goals. Things on my list include…

1. Create postcards from photos.
2. Surprise snail mail cards – set a schedule.
3. Kind Cards on Cars (you are enough; you don’t have to do it all; love what matters; you are perfect just the way you are; you matter)
4. Spread Good Cheer with a Cup of Calm (gift cards to coffee shop).
5. 24 Saturdays of morning calls calendar. Fill in Saturdays on the calendar of people you want to reconnect with. Grab a cup of coffee and call 1-2 and catch up. How are they? What are they excited about these days? Remind them why they’re super special to you.
6. Go on a photo field trip.
7. Try 24 new recipes.
8. Complete FWFG 30 Days of Yoga.
9. Take a photo a day for 30 days.
10. Take a photography class.
11. Practice with Duolingo every day for 30 days.
12. Take the “kids” out for lunch and/or a Sporting KC or KC Current game.
13. Take a Kansas Road Trip.
14. Do something fun with mom.
15. 24 hikes, minimum.
16. Take a weekend trip with my bestie.
17. Take a weekend trip with soulmate.
18. More: fire pit time, stand up paddle boarding, and fishing.
19. Visit Grandma more.
20. Fly somewhere and explore someplace new.
21. Learn to play the guitar, even if I’m awful at it.
22. Shenanigans with Costumes. I’m not offering any explanations here.
23. Explore a new state (one of a handful left on my list).
24. Paint the things that need painted (front door, shutters, swing, office).

Bonus Experiences

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Bonus Activities

1. Go roller skating
2. Go bowling
3. Try pickleball
4. Hamburger Mary’s Outing
5. Backyard friends summer gathering

Specific Trails to Consider

1. Weston Hills
2. Echo Cliff Park
3. Wilson State Park
4. Little Jerusalem State Park

I’ve been working on this list for several weeks, refining, adding, removing, and feel it’s at a pretty good stopping point. And while the things on the list are ones that excite me and energize me, I also find I’m equally as excited about the blank lines. Knowing I’ll be checking in with myself and having the opportunities to explore insights and awareness through coaching will undoubtedly help me in my awareness of jotting down the experiences that make up life – but maybe weren’t experiences that were on my original list.

How are you setting yourself up for the new year that feels good to you? Are you including intentions of being more aware, present, and in the flow? What needs to be in place so that you can be the “best” version of you? And to be clear, the best version of you may mean that you take better care of yourself, that you find a daily routine to pause or reflect, or that you unpack some of the blockers preventing you from being more relaxed. My suggestion for everyone is to resist the pressure to be more, create more, do more. Instead, let’s embrace the radical idea of pausing and taking care of ourselves, creating more space for the things that bring us joy and peace and meaning and fulfillment. Recently, my mentor coach said to us, “Fulfilled humans create a fulfilled world.” She shared a poem from Mary Oliver, and the ending lines resonate:

“…and you too have come into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine.”

I hope this new year brings you amazing things that fill you, support you, and allow your light to shine. Happy New Year!

So Long, 2019

2019, I don’t think you lived up to what I’d hoped for you. A year ago I’d hoped for a year of spending less, saving more, stressing less, eating better, hiking more. I’m not sure any of those boxes got checked. But we made it through.

I have a hard time putting this year into words. It’s been a tough year. I’m stealing a line from Michelle Obama, with saying there were a lot of “tough moments we persevered through.” A five-month battle with the city over missing permits, a half-assed landscape company that made me lose my sh#t, a massive tornado that was way too close for comfort, rains that never seemed to stop. Water that started pouring into the basement. Countless gallons of water being sucked up. Rains that only happen once every 500 years. Twelve inches in an 8 hour time period. So much lost sleep and what felt like ptsd every time it rained. A lot of crisis management, a lot of fixes, and finally a big dig to fix a crushed drain tile and seal the walls. The deck is currently gone, the backyard oasis is a giant mud pit, but we finally feel like perhaps when it rains, we’ll be dry. Fingers crossed.

2020 will have a continuation of some of these projects. One more piece of drainage work, regrowing grass, redoing some grading, rebuilding the deck, redoing the rock patio, recreating our backyard oasis. There is much work yet to do, but we feel like we’re finally on the other side of the giant hill.

We made some incredible memories and took several trips. An awesome jaunt to Austin, TX, for my love’s 40th birthday. A hiking trip to Eureka Springs, AR, with my best friend and a scenic drive through the flint hills. An anniversary trip to Colorado to explore some new areas, including the absolutely amazing Great Sand Dunes National Park. A fall trip back to Arkansas to hike and see family. Pool parties with family, lots of softball and volleyball tournaments to see my niece play, an incredibly fun house party with our friends and family. Live concerts of Gov’t Mule, Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown, Black Stone Cherry, Brandi Carlile, and Jason Isbell. And a True North band highlight of opening up Live on Mass Street for Cody Canada and Jason Boland.

We both paid off our cars, I hit the 20 year mark for working with my agency, and I wrote in July that my husband is soul-soothing. He truly is. Throughout this whole year, we have laughed like lunatics, sometimes out of disbelief, sometimes out of hilarity. We’ve worked together as a team, and through it all, I can’t imagine anyone else at my side. Our mantra seems to be this: no matter the stress, life is good, because we have each other.

So, here’s to a new year, a new decade. A reboot. A refresh. I’m gonna copy paste from a year ago, and intend to get it right this time. 2020, let’s spend less, save more, laugh even harder, stress less, sleep and eat better, hike more, find more backroads. And keep laughing our way through life.

Happy New Year.