After the year we just had and with both hope for a vaccine and the knowledge that it’ll take time to distribute, it seems like this might be the year to refocus on well-being. If you were part of our Balance After Burnout or Managing Uncertainty workshops in 2020, you’ll be familiar with the construct I’ll be using. But unlike in the workshops where we dig into the action planning, this year Nextpat will be taking a different wellness topic each month and discussing how it shows up in our day-to-day, what it means when we’re transitioning and how we can prioritize it in transition and day-to-day life.
So, for those who have not participated in our wellness workshops, we’ll be using a model that takes into account physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. When I returned from a year in India, I found that when asking “how I was” – it really did need to encompass all those aspects of health. There were times that the physical toll of dysentery was the most relevant response, but equally were apathy when I felt emotionally drained or excitement when learning something new. We’ll be taking individual topics within each wheelhouse for each month, the current planned list is below, in case there is something specific you’re curious about.
Feb: Sleep!
Mar: Eat
Apr: Move
May: Social Connection
Jun: Gratitude
Jul: Savoring
Aug: Mindset
Sep: Mental Engagement
Oct: Mental Restoration
Nov: Core Values
Dec: Alignment and Energy
What I’m interested in is what commitments are you making to yourself this year? What health/well-being resolutions have you discovered are important to you as 2020 often brought those to light? How is that shifting the way you approach your resolutions this year?
What tricks did you learn or pro-tips did you discover that have helped you find more balance or healthy habits?
I was talking to my mom the other morning and we were discussing how everyone in the family is doing. My grandfather passed away a couple of years ago and my grandmother came to live with my mom. My mom said something that made me think perhaps my grandmother was visiting my aunt. In the course of our conversation about how when anyone interrupts our space, no matter how close to us it can be disruptive, my mom mentioned that she had been thinking about how after having lived away from my family for so many years I no longer was part of it in the same way – I didn’t have the
same points of reference and vice versa. She felt the same about her mother and having lived away from her family for 40 years. As we chatted, we discussed how as we sometimes get frustrated when we feel like we want to do something in a specific way but don’t have the physical or emotional or mental strength to do so and how it results in anger that undermines our initial goal which was to do something for someone else in the first place. Since this topic was on my mind, I noted that self-care was critical not because it was important to you, but because it often helps us do what we want to do for others in the way we want to do it for them. Our frustration when doing something nice even if that frustration is at ourselves manifests in a way that makes it challenging for others to receive our “good deed.” When we take care of ourselves, we are more able to provide for others in a loving way that goes further than anything we actually do. So, for 2021, I hope to reprioritize my meditation and find the tools to be calm and collected in the small stressors of day-to-day life – I tend to find plenty of calm in storms, just not in the daily grind 😊
What about you? Did 2020 help you crystalize priorities and find new ways of fitting those into your day? What resolutions are you making for 2021? How are you going to stay motivated to that commitment?
In case you are making a wellness goal and want to use a 90-day mission with Nextpat to keep yourself accountable and build the ritual so that you can have a habit to rely upon, sign up at www.nextpat.us/services - you’ll meet with a small cohort every 2 weeks to cheer you on, gain inspiration, and provide guidance in case you feel stuck. You’ll also get a one-on-one coaching session to help you unlock your potential towards meeting those goals!