New Year...New Us?

I've always loved the idea of New Years Resolutions, there's something so appealing about a blank piece of paper, 12 uncharted months ahead, spring just over the horizon and the possibility of the impossible.

For as long as I can remember, definitely since Primary School age, I've had a New Years pledge. I've journaled, but only in French (I was 9 when I did this, I can't actually speak French anymore, unless its to ask for more bread, orange juice or sweets, as those were my priorities then). In 2012 I bought a press and made ecobricks from shredded paper to replace burning logs on the open fire (they take AGES to make and seconds to burn, this wasn't my strongest year!), I've bought only from small businesses and at had least a few less noble diet related resolutions over the years too! Some have been big, some small, each one equally filled with anticipation of a new year ahead...

Twelve months ago I took to LinkedIn to share my New Years resolution to try one new thing for a whole month, every month. I had some great suggestions from you, my wonderful linked in family. Here’s how I got on:

January - Meditate every day

February - Watch a TED Talk every day

March - Yoga every day (didn’t quite manage that!)

April - Start every day with a pint of water

May - Listen to a podcast every day

June - Bike ride every day (substituted bike for scooter home from school run some days but on the most I gave this one a good try!)

July - Close all 3 rings on my watch every day (mostly failed on standing related points ??)

August - Read every day

September - Start every day with a 'walk' to work, even if working at home

October - Delete all caffeine and replace with herbal tea (tasted like dishwater for the first 20 days, it’s fine now, I actually rather like it)

November - Stop ‘preparing for the week ahead on a Sunday’.

Side note - Do you spend Sunday’s surfing through emails, indexing your to do list and making sure you start the week ahead of the curve? Tried kicking this habit and guess what?...The sky didn’t fall, I didn’t miss any deadlines or turn up under-prepared to anything. I did, feel more refreshed and able to give it my all. Give it a try, let me know how you get on :-)

In the interest of full disclosure; Working evenings, however, love that, don’t try and convince me otherwise ;-)        

December - I’m going to hold my hands up here, I got so carried away in November; December just sort of happened and I haven’t done a 30 day challenge this month. I have spent a lot of time preparing for next year though, not that it counts, just a fact.

A massive thank you to all who have checked in to see how I’m getting on, sent me suggestions and encouraged me. The internet is, despite what the papers may say, a rather nice place to be most of the time. I appreciate you all, more than I can put into words without it sounding a bit gushy, so I'll stop here, but truly, thank you.

What next for 2022?

Before I carry on, what's your New Years resolution? Have you already got this jotted down or is the humble resolution still undecided, perhaps its something you hadn't thought of doing in 2022?

If the slot of your resolution is still up for grabs, perhaps could you spare a short moment to let me put forward an idea, perhaps we could do this one together?

Yes…

Brill, thanks for being here with me! I’ve spent a lot of time pondering 2022’s resolution. After 11 different ones, one big one seems like a huge commitment, especially now I’m here writing it into LinkedIn forever to be held accountable by the laws of the internet ??

Twenty Twenty Two, the year of spreading kindness?

Dearest reader if we have met before, you will likely already know my heart lies in D&I related topics. I’ve spent a lot of 2021 immersing myself in think tanks, committees, networking groups, master classes - you name it, if I could get there I’ve tried to show up present, open minded and accepting of whatever opinions I hear (that’s not always easy, I've tried, not necessarily always succeeded). What strikes me is the common theme, from gender to race to age to social mobility, what we are desperately craving is diversity of thought. It’s the desire for fresh ideas and an environment where we all turn up as our truest selves and able to communicate through our own lens, without fear of sticking out from the crowd, looking silly, or highlighting a differentiating factor (for any number of reasons). Now even the most seasoned of us may think we have got this down, mastered acceptance on the highest level. If that’s us, we are likely at our most dangerous. Read some books, talk to someone you’d never normally meet, listen and be kind. Draw a conclusion then try to advocate for a completely opposing view, how does that feel?

Lets champion the elevation of others, always. Know that beauty lies in diversity.

If we all agreed all of the time, how dull would that be? Do you think we’d be existing at optimum performance or uninspiringly mediocre?

We as a community, a human family are, in the main, working hard to equalise the mistakes of our past. But rather than focusing on one area at the risk of alienating the others - how about we all just try to be kind, accepting people? I think that’s a great start and I’m throwing it out there for 2022, I'm going to do one kind and/or encouraging thing every single day, different things, new things, every day, to brighten up someone else's day, to encourage and empower. I might even keep a kindness diary (but not in French!). I'd love to do this together with you, who's with me?

Rachael Hunnisett | December 2021 | All thoughts and opinions are my own