The New Year At Last - what's in store for 2022

For 2022, I am committed to do less, and be more. Throughout 2021 and years past, I was on 24/7. Between work, writing, and running, I’ve learned that too much may be too much and am therefore seeking a gentler way to satisfy my passions and pursuits, which means that I will likely sit some races out, spend more time working on writing projects, and when it comes to my career, my goal is to be invested, reliable, and realistic. 2021 taught me that the more we are on zoom, immersed in answering emails, and all that comes with a 24/7 work mindset, the easier it is to lose our way and become zombie versions of ourselves who get stuff done, but oftentimes without soul.

What encompasses my do less, be more agenda?

Less time on email/text - more living and taking in the world around me. The hours we stare at our laptops and phone screens make us productive, but do they enable us to be reflective, thoughtful, and strategic? Sure, it’s nice to be available and provide rapid responses to emails, but is it helping us to showcase our best professional selves? Is it challenging us to be better, or is it making us more reactive and robotic? I’m voting to reflect, pause, and process more before I respond.

Less working till 10 pm days and more time working on me. During the Jewish Holidays this year, Rabbi Aaron from Sixth & I discussed the discrepancy between the time we invest in our personal relationships versus what we want from them. His hypothesis: it doesn’t measure up. He went on to say, “Your work should not define your life,” pondering what if we invested only a quarter of our time in developing ourselves and our personal relationships versus spending all our time working? While it’s normal to take courses and trainings to excel in our careers, we so rarely hear people say, I’m working on myself so that I can be amazing to my family and colleagues – and myself! This is going to be the year that I work on me so that I have more to offer everyone around me both personally and professionally.

Well-being rules. Period. There is nothing gained by working 16-hour days and working through days I’m ill or burnt out. One of my favorite quotes from spiritual guru Anthony de Mello is, “When I am okay, the world is okay.” While I think of those words often, this year I’m going to aim to apply them to my days. When we are clear of mind and heart, balanced, and okay with ourselves, it’s amazing how much better we can be with everyone we interact with. When I am okay, work is amazing. When I am okay, my to-do list is not a burden. When I am okay, I’m energized and often energize others. When I’m okay, I aim to make the world a better place.

Cultivating good stress versus wasteful stress. I am a fan of stress as it almost always teaches me something about myself. However, I have come to learn that there’s good stress, and wasteful stress. Good stress stretches me – it requires me to be innovative, thoughtful, pause and consider another point of view, and it often helps me to gear up and get to it. Wasteful stress is spent on things that I do not control – things that belong to the universe, such as, will the storm cause my flight to be canceled? What if ____ gets canceled due to a Covid outbreak? In 2022, I will accept and honor the challenges good stress brings and let go of the panic and fear that wasteful stress induces.

Daily meditation and journaling. These tools have been a go-to for me for decades. They never let me down and help me to understand myself better, which in term helps me to know others better. Meditation – whether it’s for one minute or ten – enables me to tune out and tune in to myself. Journaling permits me to articulate my feelings and ideas and discover the gaps in my thoughts and beliefs, so that my feelings do not have to be a mystery to me. Cultivating clarity with my thoughts and feelings helps me to be clearer when I interact with others.

Running and reading rule. In 2021, with many of us working from home, I often scheduled early morning and evening meetings, which left little time to be active some days. For 2022, I intend to schedule activities that help me to be better, the same way I schedule work meetings. Running and reading have been my daily cures for as long as I can remember. When I sweat, the world makes more sense to me – I feel engaged and invested in all my pursuits. Reading holds a similar allure. Each book I read enables me to explore other people’s lives, ideas, and scenery. Books ground me in the world around me, trigger my senses, and teach me about other points of view and ideas. And with audio books, I get to bundle two of my favorite activities and read while I run!

Laughter and fun. I battled health issues in 2021 and didn’t have my normal freedom and joy. I felt heavy and was often disillusioned. In 2022, my goal is not to get caught up in the hurdles I face. Sure, life is not always fun and games, but how I react to it is up to me. My mom joked daily with doctors during the years she battled cancer, and in turn, it made everyone laugh with her. That’s a lesson I will hold closer moving forward – often, laughter is the best medicine.

Kindness. Kindness always matters, as do compassion and empathy. Sometimes one kind word can really make someone else’s day – or week. We all have our own relationships with insecurity – we are not enough, we are failures, everyone is better, etc. Practicing kindness and experiencing it for ourselves can be life changing. Furthermore, practicing kindness can shift your view, your tone, your mood, and teach you to be kinder to yourself.?