Start 2025 Strong By Making The Most Out Of The Last 3 Months of 2024
A Gentler Approach to “New Year, New Me”
The turnaround from the end of summer to the year feeling like it’s wrapping up, is coming in hard and fast. Those lingering summer days convinced us that there’s endless time left, then we got the biggest wake-up call when the shops prematurely put out both the Halloween and Christmas products. The siren blares that there’s only three months left of the year, which means we’re inching closer to the thoughts of how we might step into 2025.
There’s a cultural obsession with the whole “new year, new me” thing that’s unlikely to wane, despite the self-imposed pressure that it creates. Rethinking resolutions and opting for an approach that feels more realistic, may well include getting into the headspace now instead of being overwhelmed later, albeit in a slow and soft way. After the hustle mode that tends to begin in September and keeps going throughout the festive season, who actually has the energy to enter into January 1st with an energising spring in their step?
It’s easy to go too big at the beginning of the new year, but there’s a kinder and more sustainable way of doing this, that you’ll benefit from right now, but also throughout the upcoming year. Breaking down intentions and goals into do-able chunks looks like easing our way into them, centring reflection and trying some things out before we even think about declaring to our notebooks what we hope to achieve next year. Consider it feel-good data analysis and research before you prepare for launch and step into 2025 feeling ready for whatever the year might bring. Here’s our tips for what to get started with over the next few months:
It’s time to reflect:
Before you get into heavy doing-mode, make the most of the last 3 months of the year by reflecting on the year that’s gone so far - you can spend some time thinking or writing about the moments that stood out to you in the key areas of your life. This might be career/creativity, relationships with others and your relationship with yourself. Include the micro-moments too and not just the highlight reels.
Think about the joyful stuff as well as the hard bits. Write about what you’ve learned so far and experienced, including the things that surprised you. This is a helpful practice to get into before the year wraps up, and you’re not in a rush to complete it by the beginning of the new year. You can break this up and pick one area a week to slowly go through or even one area per month. For now, you are simply reflecting, so there’s no pressure.
Make a note of any ‘aha’ moments or themes you start to see if you’d like, but the idea is that you come back to these notes next year to help you create any intentions. If you take your time to do the reflection now, you’ll have more clarity on what to focus on and grow into next year, when the time to get more specific comes. It also plants the seed for a more frequent reflection practice that you can do each month, if you don’t already.
Explore what you’re carrying:
How are you doing right now? No, really, how are you doing? Ask yourself this and pause for as long as you need to, to feel into the answer. It might not be a loud answer, but you’ll hear it with some further exploration. Your body might be screaming out that it needs some extra love because it’s more tense or tired than usual. You might work out that you need a top-up of your supplements, time to rest or to add in more movement.
See what’s going on in your mind, as well. Are you worrying about anything? What’s the first and last thoughts that you’re having upon waking and going to sleep? Are you bursting with ideas? Maybe you decide what you need is to vent in a journal or have a few minutes in the day to be still. Emotionally, what’s happening? How are you feeling about yourself, other people and the world around you?
Take some time to work out everything that you’re carrying and holding in this moment, as a soft check-in. This is a gentle process of self-inquiry that you might enjoy getting into now. It will see you through the next year, and help you to get into a practice of setting intentions and making plans based on how you’re actually doing. Instead of being tempted to pluck out a new wellness or exercise trend out of nowhere, you’re doing things for yourself based on your needs and yours alone.
Experiment with things:
We know what happens to those all-or-nothing intentions that we boldly set at the beginning of the year; they tend to slip away by April. Usually because we’ve set a goal that’s unachievable for our lifestyle, then we end up feeling bad about ourselves instead of compassionate. Or, we’ve listened to the should’s that surround us, and opted for the thing that everyone else is doing, when we haven’t actually tried it ourselves yet. But, expect to do it every single day until the end of forever. To set you up for both now and later, tis the season for some light experimentation.
Take a look at our Four Pillar Approach to Wellness for some ideas, but now is a great time to test some things out. Perhaps you go on a few mini walks after dinner if it’s not part of your practice and make a note in your phone about how you feel doing it. Maybe you commit to trying 10 minutes of a guided meditation, breathwork or journaling when you wake up. If you’ve gotten bored of how you’re moving your body, maybe there’s a free trial at a gym to try a few strength training sessions out.
Well worth experimenting now before you’re pressured into an annual membership in January without ever trying it. You might fancy adding some more play into your life by having a game night every month to get your mind moving. Remember to go slow, soft and small here. Think of it less as committing to something new, but trying all kinds of different things to prepare for what you might want to go the distance with next year.