New Year Energy
With a few exercises to channel it
Greetings everyone! Today I’d like you to tap into some of that ever-present ‘fresh start’ energy that accompanies a new year. I was laid-off from my job in 2023 and I decided to re-appropriate that time to Toastmasters. The theme for the meeting today was, ‘What are you leaving behind in 2023’. With that prop in mind I created the questions at the end of this post.
Please check them out.
Thinking about how you want to end the year is really important, this prop made me think about ‘unlearning’. We place such an emphasis on the process of improvement, growth, and development. Have you considered the re-frame of becoming less?
Some of the most profound and sticky lessons in my life have been the result of unlearning how I am. The reason I think it’s so impactful is because you have perspective on what it’s like to be, and to no longer be.
Think of it from the perspective of construction. When you build something you move from plans to reality. You are studying the idea of something, not the thing itself. When you deconstruct something you move from reality to reality. You must study and investigate the thing itself, in order to understand how to change it, and re-sculpt it. That kind of attention to the tangible is powerful.
Take a look at your characteristics, habits, tendencies, or mindsets as they are now, not as you want them to be. Can you identify the ones you’d like to remove? If you think of those things like features in a car, or on a phone, how does removing those things impact your experience? It isn’t important how you plan to replace those features, you may find you're better off without them, or you may not yet know the features you need to have the experiences you want.
One thing I’d like to unlearn in 2024 is control. When I look at my life I see it everywhere. I see it in the way I schedule my day, the way I treat my body, and in the interactions with the people around me. I learned this in childhood and have spent years of my adulthood reinforcing this feature.
I’m dedicating 2024 to unlearning control. I’m excited to see what feature takes its place and I’m hopeful that whatever shows up next is aligned with the vision I have for my life in the future. I can’t tell the future, but I have a strong sense my new feature in 2024 will be ingenuity.
What are you dedicated to unlearning in 2024?
What do you suspect your new feature may be in 2024?
Here are the questions for what you are leaving behind in 2023, have fun with it, they’re silly but how you think about them may be quite revealing. Enjoy!
Questions:
We all have those foods in our lives that taste delicious. Think about a food you love to eat that you’re leaving behind in 2023. What food is it and even though you love it, why are you leaving it behind?
We are addicted to our screens. We probably look at our screens more than we look at the faces of the people we love. In 2024, you only have room for one screen in your life, we’re all downsizing. What is the one screen you’d keep in your life in 2024?
A huge corporation is doing a study to understand the relationship between how sedentary we are in relation to the number of seats we have in our house. The corporation is paying $ 75K an item to participants, but only if they are willing to part with every chair, ottoman, or couch (seats) in their house. Would you take the offer? Are you leaving ‘seats’ behind in 2023?
Movement is a pillar of health and in the United States, we don’t move enough. One way to increase our movement is to park farther away from the commercial establishments where we shop. Are you leaving behind the habit of taking the closest parking spots in 2023?
Limiting beliefs limit us, but, there are so many other obstacles in our path, let’s give ourselves a break, and leave one limiting belief behind. What is one limiting belief you’re ready to leave behind in 2023?
Some people just aren’t good for your health. They steal your energy or leave you feeling sad. Can you think of a relationship like this in your life and are you leaving it behind in 2023?
I know some people who like condiments more than food. But, next year there’s a shortage of condiments, so you can only purchase two condiments in the entire year of 2024. Will you list your top three condiments, and tell us which one you’re leaving behind in 2023?
The government is really cracking down on drug use; starting Jan 1, 2024, you’ll only be able to consume alcohol or caffeine. Which of the two drugs are you leaving behind in 2023?