Summertime Self-Care Part 2. New Goals and Fresh Starts.

Remember those times during deep COVID when every week felt like a lifetime?

I was in the first year of business as a yoga studio owner in March of 2020 and I feel like I had a new idea, opinion, or guideline I needed to follow every single week.

I aged that year at a different rate than I do now. And I think we all did.

The time was terrifying and long, we were figuring out how to keep our businesses open, pay our bills, pass the time, and keep ourselves and our families safe while educating our children at home.

The reason I bring this up is because it seemed like we were new people at the end of every week. I often thought "I am not who I was last week" as that time in our history shifted, my beliefs and attitudes shifted, and allowed me to reframe myself each week.

While it was exhausting to rethink myself each week, it did teach me the art of reevaluation.

That is something I think we aren't doing often enough at this time of year--the deep summer (at least in North America, where I am). When the air is hot and humid it slows us down. We need to do less in order to stay cool.

Time slows.

Things shift.

And it is one of the best of times to pause and ask yourself what it is that you really love about this year, and what needs to shift.

Take Mental Stock

Pause for a moment and ask yourself a few questions about your year so far.

Have you done those things that are really important to you?

Have you spent your time on yourself?

Have you shared space with folks you love?

What goals do you have that you are further away from than you would like?

Then really take a pause and reflect on how satisfied you are with the year so far.  Do those goals that you made in January hold up now in the harsh and hot light of summer?  Perhaps you have shifted, your priorities have changed, or you found out you really don’t love writing poetry every evening before bed. 

Maybe you found watercolors instead, decided that Rose Chai was better than Earl Grey Lattes, and shifted your life in a whole different direction.

These are things that are totally okay, natural even.  We are often incredibly hard on ourselves for no reason.  “I can’t stick with anything,” we say to ourselves.  Maybe it isn’t that you need to stick with everything you try, maybe it is the idea that you are still evolving and you need to give yourself the grace to figure out what happens next.  Changing your mind is okay. 

Press Pause

So a wise person once said something like “before you clap back at someone online you should take a pause and see if it is really worth engaging”.  This is that but for goals.

After you have decided whether or not your goals in January represent the “mid-year you”, might I humbly suggest you take a pause?  Maybe go see a new movie, wander in the woods on a cooler evening, or grab a mocktail with friends.  Press pause on deciding what happens next for a few days. 

This is for no other reason than sometimes you need to sleep on things, and we are our wiser selves when we wake up the next morning. 

So from here, we will press pause, take a big inhale and a nice long exhale, and rest.  Take yourself for tea then spend the afternoon looking up at the clouds.  Let midyear settle into your bones a bit.  Reflect on who you were on January 1st, and how you have changed since then. 

This is the best way to figure out where to go from here.

New Goals, Who’s This?

Next, imagine yourself on December 31st, 2023.  What are you doing?  Who will you be?  Where are you celebrating?  Who whom?

I often feel like I make plans for a couple of months from now imagining that I am a different person, who likes appointments more, is going to have way more free time, and will somehow gracefully float through the world will skill and ease.

I am never her.

So I have learned that when I future plan, I am aiming in a general direction—not predicting a future outcome.  Sometimes my goals have been big, and I needed to make sure that outcome happened (ie. you don’t open a yoga studio without specifically intending for that to happen and then taking steps to do that), but on the whole, I am just generally pointing myself in a direction. A direction that is where I want to be while allowing myself enough grace to make some shifts along the way.

So do that for yourself too.

Allow yourself some wiggle room, but also create a new set of goals aligned with who you are today.  Make sure you take note of things that happen in small shifts (like lifestyle changes) versus the things that require some serious goal-setting and action steps (like opening a yoga studio).  Treat those two things a little bit differently, and set yourself up for New Year’s Eve 2023.

These are your goals for the next ½ of the year.  You’ve allowed yourself to shift to grow and move at your own pace. 

Summertime Fun.

Now shift back to today.  Soak up all that summertime has to offer, and plant some small seeds for your fall and winter.  Plan, relax, and let the season guide you into the second half of the year.  You may decide in the fall you want to be more of a regular in your local bookstore, start a blog, or write some music. 

Whatever you decide, start making small shifts towards that goal today.  That is what summertime is for.  Soaking up all the creative fun of the season and making it your own.

If you need some guidance on how to make those shifts happen, check out our virtual or in-person studio here and pick up a class or free workshop.