Dear friends,
Hello and welcome! Happy New Year! I hope that if you are reading this now that your holiday season was joyous, rejuvenating, and full of love.
I figured that a new year calls for a little update. If this is your first time visiting my blog, I hope you find something here to help you in some way---that is the goal at the end of the day.
It's been a while since I have written here, mainly because of the busyness of life. In August of last year, I graduated with my B.S. of Science in Psychology and started my Masters of Science in Human Resource Management two weeks later.
It turns out that internship recruitment, classes, working two jobs, doing extra research on the side, and building new friendships while maintaining old ones can make a person quite busy. However, I want to make it my new years resolution to post more actively, just because writing does bring me so much joy. Hopefully, I won't be as busy this semester either, but I kind of like being busy too... On the other hand, I need to stop using my busyness as an excuse to slack on doing things that make me happy. For me, sharing tips, advice, perspectives, and ideas with others in a way that may help them truly gives me a feeling that can be hard to describe other than happiness.
Anyways, I wanted to dedicate this post to the new year of 2022, to a new beginning. Over the past few years, people have gone through deep adversity, and there have been struggles all over the world. Of course, there's always been bad in the world, but that doesn't detract from the validness of challenges currently taking place, and feelings are always important.
Now, I am going to be sharing some tips and personal perspectives on tackling the new year and throughout 2022. However, always do what works best for you. Everyone is different, and that is so beautiful, but that also means that not everything that works well for me will work well for you---just a little something to keep in mind.
Throughout this year, one of my main goals is to start each day as a new day and forget the stress of the day before. Let this new year be a fresh start for all of us. Yes, it sounds silly. I admit. However, the new year is always a good time to revisit and refocus on goals. Holding onto regrets, worries, or stress from things one cannot control will only inhibit them from reaching their full potential in each moment. By using challenges and failures of the past as a lesson, a person will grow instead of staying static in who they are.
This year, another one of my goals is to spend more time outside and less time inside. Humans were meant to be in nature. Spending time in nature is a natural way to relieve stress and can be extremely beneficial in warding off feelings of anxiety or stress. I really have noticed how positively my moods are affected after spending time outdoors, and I plan on finding more ways to incorporate nature time into my everyday life in 2022---and I hope whoever reading this does as well! To help with inspiration, some things I currently like to do outdoors include walking, running, golfing, boating, reading, having a meal, going to outdoor events (i.e., festivals), arts and crafts, gardening, etc.
Change is not going away in 2022, and I am trying to embrace that. This year, I've made it one of my goals to get more comfortable with change and learn to use the process of adapting to change to develop myself and grow as an individual.
Humans are creatures of habit, and going through change can be a difficult thing for everyone. Change can come about in a plethora of ways: jobs, homes, careers, lifestyle, diet, perspective, religion, etc. For me, I've always appreciated the comfort of having a routine, and almost every time something changes in my life, I get a little anxious. Mainly, it's control, a fear of the unknown, what to expect, or a combination of the three, but I want to start changing my perspectives on change (haha, get it?) and using it in a proactive way for self-growth. This year, I hope to continue looking at changes in a new light and embracing them instead of worrying about them.
Lastly, this year, I want to focus on not taking things too seriously. Life is supposed to be full of fun, adventure, laughter, cries, and all of the ups and downs you can count. Sometimes, I get stuck in a little box of negativity that takes some time to get out of. From now on, a goal of mine is to not let the little things get me down, because life isn't that serious.
Honestly, perspective truly is key, and from now on, I want to pick my battles more carefully, and I challenge whoever is reading this to do the same. My best friend has always told me, "Allie, nothing is ever the end of the world," and I don't think I have ever heard a more true statement from someone than that. If you find yourself getting too caught up in the little things or taking life's misfortunes too seriously, try to switch your perspectives; think about how temporary and minuscule a situation may be before you start going to war over it. Truly, if you aren't willing to die for something, it can't be that serious---that was a little morbid, but I don't know how else to get across the fact that nothing is ever that serious unless you make it that way.
At the end of the day, we only get one chance at life, so we might as well make it a good one.
Lastly, cheers to the new year and all of the wonders that the year 2022 is bound to hold! I hope and pray that whoever is reading this has a year full of laughter, love, joy, and peace and that 2022 is everything and more.
Until next time...
xoxo,
Allie