The year in review

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Or so they sing. It’s that time when you look back on your year and think “Damn” or “Dammn girl” or “Damn it Daniel. Back at it again with the white vans”. I saw this thang on Instagram where all good inspirational quotes can be found and liked the cut of its jib;

2016:   Caterpillar

2017:   Cacoon

2018:   Butterfly.

I quit drinking and started my blog in 2016 . These 2 things, that I didn’t think I could do, become the foundation for other changes I was subsequently able to make this year such as becoming a paleo person (yes I’ve drunk Pete Evans’ Koconut Kool-Aid ), becoming an exercise person (yes I’ve drunk Kayla Itsines’ Kircuit Kool-Aid) and becoming a social media sharer (yes I’ve drunk Kardashian K-everything Kool Aid). These were my dammn girl moments but I’ve had plenty of damn moments too and am yet to ride into the sunset with a hottie, critical acclaim and billions in the bank (surely that’s 2018).

Getting journal with it: It’s helpful to take some time to write and reflect on the year, ”it was the good of times, it was the blah of times”. Celebrate the successes and acknowledge the blah stuff. Don’t beat yourself up about it. Louise Hay reminds us that ‘you were simply doing the best you could with the knowledge you had at the time’. Just acknowledge these areas for improvement and drop it like it’s hot. You can do some EFT tapping to let go of these. Set the scene for some relaxing reflection with yourself by lighting candles (mmm rich mahogany) and meditating (mmm om shanti) , then do some journaling (mmm leather bound books). Alexis Harvey (coach, writer and pixie) has 26 questions you can use to reflect on your year (link below). The a-ha moments, the hurrah moments and the damn-it-Janet moments. A focus for me this year has been self-love (hurrah) and I did try to listen to myself more (a-ha) and my area to work on is relationships (damn-it-Janet what is people?)

Word power: I love a good word and a theme and ideally the combination of the two. My words for 2017 were ‘joy and abundance’. And my phrase was ‘I move deliberately towards my greatest joy and abundance’. Gotta love a deliberate movement like doing the ‘Elaine’ or the ‘Robot’ on the dance floor. While I did focus on joy and abundance (Exhibit A: more dancing. Exhibit B: bowls of coins) I still felt the grind of my to-do list and the pressure of work, the pinch of the pennies and the stretch of over-commitment. I’ve been pondering my words for 2018 and have been thinking ‘easy, fun and authentic’. Tim Ferriss suggests asking yourself, “What would this look like if it were easy?”And Abraham Hicks say, “you’re not here to fix anything. You’re here for fun ”. How easy and fun can everything be and how me can I be? It might be time to admit I prefer the yoga mat to the discotheque and be OK with it. I will try to think of ways to bring creative solutions, fun and ease to everything I do because why did I have to go and make things so complicated.

 By reflecting on my year and becoming clear on my words and vision for 2018, I hope to emerge from the cacoon as an easy, fun, authentic butterfly. See you in the sky!

Love and light and now it’s good night from me and it’s good night from her xxx Yvette

Alexis Harvey Questions

Tim Ferriss

Abraham Hicks

Damn it Daniel