I took myself on a mini-retreat this year.
I think I've never been alone on New Year's before. Nor did I want to be.
But this year is different. I have a feeling 2018 is going to be BIG in some way, and I need to thoroughly let go of old stuff before I enter it.
I noticed I put up with a LOT during the past year, and at the same time I also realized I played "the victim" in some ways, but that all stops now! Well, it has already - for the past three weeks I felt like I'm walking around with an imaginary "No more B.S.!" - T-shirt on :)
A few "friends" of mine are definitely wondering what's up with me, and since I put that word in quotation marks, those "friends" are obviously some of the weeds I'll be pulling out :)
I had no idea how much I missed the sea!!!
So, I spontaneously booked myself into a hotel in Warnemünde, a quaint place at the baltic sea where I spent every summer of my childhood.
Pretty stupid of me - a pisces - to forget that I belong to the sea. I guess after living at the sea for most of my life, until 3 years ago when I moved to Berlin, I thought I've had enough of it for a life time. Noooooope...
I'm taking beach walks every day, and I'm spending a LOT of time with myself, getting clear on who I want to be in 2018, what I want to do, and how I want to feel.
The only time I open my laptop is to post on Steemit, like right now.
The rest of the time it's old fashioned pen & paper. It feels GOOD.
The internet is soooo bad here, though, that I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to publish this post still in 2017...
Well, I'm just gonna keep on typing for now. Because I came here for a reason, which is to share with you,
How to pull out the weeds
Our life is like a garden. In order to grow something, we need to make sure we plant it on healthy soil and pull out the weeds every now and then, so that nothing blocks the space that we need for the good stuff to grow.
So before we think about our goals and plans and dreams and wishes and intentions, we need to remove everything that doesn't belong there and which doesn't serve us anymore.
So here's a helpful list of questions you can use for self-reflection & introspection, in order to identify what you want to let go of. (It may sound like it's the same question over and over again in different words, and that would be true. Our brains often needs different words to tap into different resources.)
- How did I limit myself this year?
- How did I stand in my own way?
- Where did I stay small out of fear of rejection?
- Where did I stop myself or talk myself out of a goal for fear of failure?
- What roles did I play this year that didn't really serve me or others? Which roles do I want to stop playing?
- What didn't grow and flourish as much as I had hoped in the beginning of the year?
- I don't want to feel like this anymore:
Note that this is not about listing "failures".
I don't believe in failures. I believe that everything happens for a reason. So if something didn't work as planned, it holds a lesson for us.
Learning those lessons and making new choices, prepares a healthy soil for everything we want to plant in the coming year.
Your answers to these questions will also set you up for figuring out what you do want to grow from now on. That will be what part 2 of this self-inquiry is about. I'll be writing about that tomorrow or in a couple of days.
See you in 2018! :)
That sounds soo lovely! I'd love a retreat (just me and myself!!!) at some point this year :D Coincidently, my family and I went on a fairly spontaneous trip to Amsterdam for a few days just before the year ended (it was quite serendipitous how it all happened). It was beautiful and so symbolic in many ways for us!
Personally, I'm still learning to "pull out the weeds".. A very dear friendship of mine did end not long ago, and although I was absolutely opposed to it, because I saw her as family. I eventually realized it was actually a pretty toxic relationship mutually, so it was definitely for our greater good that it ended.
It's definitely a lesson to me, I guess because of my upbringing, we're taught to overlook issues when it comes to family, so it never even occurred to me to consider the relationship an issue. I hope I do learn from this, because my life has been blossoming since the end of that relationship, and I truly hope hers is too :)
Well that's a strong sign that this friendship wasn't good for you anymore :)
Amsterdam! That's also nice, I hope you had a good time!
I couldn't see it then, but definitely see it now!
Yes we absolutely did! It was a very special trip for us for many reasons, and it really reignited my love for world travelling (which is a big passion I feel I've put aside for too long), very inspired to do a lot more of it in 2018!
Happy New Year :D
Oooh great post! And shame on you for forgetting your watery home dear Pisces!!! Everything feels like it’s going to be ok at the edge of the sea doesn’t it ? 💕
Yes! Always 😊
This is great and so true! We do need to get the weeds out before we plant new seeds. Just like a garden. :D Have a great and happy new year @connecteconomy!
Thanks @bitdollar! Happy new year! :)
Thank you for sharing your story because i am on the same journey myself. 2017 marked my 4th decade on earth, which sparked some internal need to re-evaluate life and the direction I'm heading. I can relate to what you have shared and look forward to reading more of your posts ☺
Your 4th year and you already have you re-evaluate your life?? 😆
Thank you! Nice to meet you, @itaiaha
Haha oops i was meaning my 4th decade 😉
Happy new year :)
Nice
Will do something good to this year