To ensure a fresh new start for the New Year, you should make sure you have no unfinished business from this year or as Seneca said: ¨ “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” To start 2020 the right way, let´s finish 2019 with a positive outlook. These 5 exercises will help you to do just that!

Evaluate your year for the good

You will learn a lot by evaluating your year using the exercises below. With each one you will learn something about yourself, it becomes easier to be positive and happier.

So, grab a notebook, a cup of tea or coffee and write down what the last 12 months have brought you.

1. What have you achieved this year?

What have you achieved today, this week, this month, this year, throughout your life? Sometimes it is very difficult to answer this question. However, it can be very helpful to really focus on what you’ve accomplished.

If you don’t really acknowledge these things, you can feel disappointed with your life.  Yet when you do reflect on what you’ve already achieved in your life, a shift starts to happen, and you soon start to believe in your ability to achieve more.

So, I would like to encourage you to really focus on what you’ve accomplished this year. When you focus on your achievements, you naturally become eager to achieve more and more of the things you want! I, for example, am very proud of how I have established a new life for myself and my children after my separation.

2. What did you not achieve this year?

Maybe a less fun exercise, but also relevant and very useful, ask yourself what you did not achieve over the past year. Which of your 2019 resolutions have you failed to achieve? Maybe you wanted to lose weight, but you have gained weight instead, or you wanted to start your own company, but you are still working for your boss?

The purpose of this exercise is not to punish yourself for the things you have not achieved. That´s life. However, you can learn from it. Why have you not achieved these goals? What factors have prevented you from reaching these goals? Do you still want to achieve these goals? If so, what can you do this year to make sure they really happen? Maybe now is the right time to really get started!

What I would have liked to do more is spending some real quality time with my children, playing games, doing crafts, spending time in nature, reading them stories. I have been so busy that there does not seem enough time to do this, but this should be a priority so I am going to try harder next year to achieve this.

3. What have you learned?

I think it’s so important to take note of what you’ve learned over the past 12 months in order to move forward properly. You have probably experienced some ups and downs, and what you have learned from this can prepare you for the future.

If you had to write down 5 things that you have learned over the past year, what would they be?

Possibly you have lost someone close to you and you have learned how important family is for you. Or you lost your job and subsequently realised that you can do so much more than you thought. Maybe you’ve learned to love yourself a bit more and not to be so hard on yourself. Personally, I have learned how to live alone for the first time in a long time, not relying on anyone else has only made me stronger. 

Write down these learning points to yourself. You might notice something interesting. It´s fun evaluating your life this way, because from these ´learning points´ you will discover new things. You will start to recognize these learning points in your daily life, making it possible to be digest even more.

4. What would you have done differently?

There´s a good chance that not everything went according to plan over the year. Which things would you have done differently? Maybe you let someone steal your dreams by listening to their ‘meaningful’ advice, and now you wished you followed your own path? Maybe you had a fight with someone you love and did not see that person again, but you do want this person back in your life? Maybe you feel you have performed poorly at work and now you wished you had worked a bit harder?

Don´t put yourself down for all of the ´mistakes´ you´ve made. The purpose of this exercise is to face these energy-consuming things in your life and then park them. Write down what you would have liked to have done differently. Then be creative and think how you can still make up for your ´mistakes´. Contact your loved one and settle the argument, you can explain to your boss why you have not been so effective at work and that you regret it. And you can still chase your dreams, don´t listen to ´sensible´ others, but trust your own inner voice! In my case I noticed that going through a separation costs a lot of energy, energy I sometimes lacked to put in a 100% at work. But, now I am all back on track, I am going for it again, for the full 100%!

5. What would you like the New Year to bring you?

I give every new year a ´theme´. This year my theme was ´starting a new life´, for the coming year year my theme will be ´being grateful for my new life and spending more time with my loved ones´. What will your theme be? What do you want to achieve and what do you want to experience? Will your theme be love, independence, freedom, success or something else? Find out for yourself what you really need for the coming year and focus your strategy on that.

Then develop a list of three goals. One related to your job or work, one related to your loved ones or friends and one related to your body and health. Make sure that these ´resolutions´ fit in with your annual theme. Make these three goals your mission for the New Year.

My three goals will be:

1. I am so grateful for the company I have together with my sister now for 10 years already and for working with her and some other wonderful ladies. To keep my enthusiasm for the job, I would like to find a new challenge within the work field and company to re-find a 100% dedication.
2. I would like to spend more quality time with my kids and with my parents who live close by and also need more attention as they are getting older.
3. I will look well after my own and my families’ health. A healthy diet is super important, and I would like to move more towards a plant based diet, trying new recipes and providing my family with healthy yet delicious meals! Having a meal together is a wonderful moment to spend some quality time together.

All that is left is to wish you a great New Year!

I, together with all of your SISters in Wellness, would like to wish you a beautiful and exciting New Year. It will be a great year! Whatever will happen to you and whatever you will experience, you know you will learn from it and you will grow from it. We also hope that over the coming year we can inspire you to become a better and happier you!

Written by your SISter in Wellness Femke