Reflecting on 2022...

So, what a year, right?! Well...

We say things like this quite often, e.g. ‘You won’t believe the day I’ve had today’ or ‘It’s just been a crappy week!’... sound familiar?

It’s a very human thing to do. But it can also be distorting and reinforce the not-so-good feelings we have about something a little unjustly.

The end of a calendar year is an odd one – Christmas has passed and a week later we decide it’s time to say goodbye to one year and welcome in a new one with a celebration, like a changing of the guard, and wish everyone ‘happy new year.’ But what has actually changed between 31 Dec and 1 Jan? Nothing more or less than any other day passing into the next! Nonetheless, if nothing else, it can be a moment to pause and reflect on what has passed and what is to come (no bad thing to do at any time, it might just be a more obvious thing to do in Dec / Jan because of how we treat a new year!).

Before we leap into the new year and think about goals / plans for 2023 (more on this next time), I think it is important to take a moment to reflect on the year that has been 2022. For me personally it has been a very up and down year, and I’ve openly acknowledged that I think it has been a tough one, compounded by coming after tough times in 2020 and 2021. However, I also think that it is easy to just write off the year as a disaster, and that would be neither true nor fair. It may be the year in which ‘cost of living’ became the phrase to replace ‘Covid’ in regularity and negativity, but it hopefully doesn’t mean it was all bad.

As I suggested in my Facebook group just this week, there may be some value in some or all of the following things:

- Thinking about what have been your personal and / or professional highlights in 2022. It’s easy to overlook the positive things and not celebrate our successes at the best of times, let alone against a backdrop that hasn’t been great. It was in 2022 I got my trademark for ‘the lost mum’, completed my group coaching certificate and pushed myself out of my comfort zone with my business. Definitely things to recognise and be proud of!

- Have a look back over your photo reel for the year – if you’re anything like me, there’ll be some random ones in there and things you may have forgotten doing! But also hopefully some happy memories captured that you may have forgotten about amongst everything else this year.

- Rather than ‘write off’ 2022, maybe we could ‘forgive’ it instead. There were definitely some trying and tough times in 2022 (mini budget anyone?!), and so many beyond our control, but if you do try the other two ideas above, hopefully you’ll also see some of the positives from the year too.

That’s it from me this side of Christmas, I’ll be back next week with my thoughts on new year’s resolutions, and working with me in 2023!

Until then, wishing you all a happy Christmas, however it may look, and I hope you have some time out for a bit or relaxation and fun.