2022 With Intention

Do you make New Years resolutions?

I live for them. No joke. I think about them all year, and plan for the upcoming January for months. I buy a new day planner and use my favorite pen to document my big dreams, often in numerical order. This is also the girl who spent the first day of classes every semester stocking up on nerd supplies and marking everything from my syllabus to my calendar.

Why? Hope.

Every creative endeavor is cyclical. Your muse carries you and drops you and ignores you and woos you. Much as I love her, I need to carry on without her. Every day. It's my process that saves me in the long stretches of hard work. My muse joins me when she likes, fickle thing that she is.

So what is it about January 1st that gets me excited? Yes, I am a goal-oriented type A person, but it's more than that. The first day of the new year means a clean slate, an open field of possibilities. A full year that could change your life. Today I set intentions. I build on the markers I've met in the years up to now (and the ones I haven't). January 1st is a check in, a way to reconstruct my future.

Some people don't like resolutions. too much pressure and added guilt if you don't reach the goals. I get it. Life is stressful enough without adding self imposed expectations. But for me, resolutions aren't goals, they are hope. Hope that I can turn my dreams into a possibility. Writing it down, naming it, and looking at those words every day creates a positive push toward what I'm already working on.

I don't always reach my goals. This year, I wanted to read 55 books. I only made it to 50. I did publish two books and completed another, started querying agents, and marketed Daughter of the King. So, I didn't read those last 5 books. Do I care? Not in the least. Reaching the goals are great, but working toward them is even better. It starts a practice, one that you can come back to time and again. Diet? Exercise? The same rules apply.

Today I wrote my ten intentions for 2022. Some are wild and big, bucket list type things, and others manageable. I might reach some of them, and I might not reach others. But I'll be one step closer either way.

Join me. That thing you've always dreamed of but it seems impossible? Write it down. Ask for it. Make it no longer the impossible, but the attainable. It starts with hope. Check in with me on Jan 1, 2023. I'll let you know how I've done.

Now get on with it.