Dear Reader,

I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year filled with good health, an abundance of joy and plenty of laughter.

A New Year is usually a time when you find yourself setting up new resolutions for the year which just started. But are resolutions really what you want to focus on? Instead of resolutions, I suggest setting up goals for happy living, as they will allow you to make the best out of your life, instead of feeling frustrated when you don’t keep these resolutions you set up.

NewYearNewGoalsSome of my goals for this year include:

  1. Keeping track of my health.
  2. Keeping a good work-life balance. I am now juggling between 2 jobs, and developing my practice is still my priority. Hence, I have to find a way to work out my schedule in the best possible way for me to have time for what is important for me, yet still have time for self-care.
  3. Spending more quality time with my family and friends. This will be a result of my goal #1.
  4. Investing more time into personal development and learning. I am lucky that there is always something new to learn in the field of health, it makes my life a very rich one! Finding the time to read, learn and test new theories, methods, recipes, etc. will also depend on how well I manage my goal #1.

These goals are very important to me because I know first hand what a bad work-life balance can bring to my overall health! It can worsen my endometriosis and make me feel like I’m going to burn out again. It does not mean that my work is not important to me, but rather that I understand my limitations and understand how to take the best decisions for me.

Most of the time when a New Year starts, you are advised to set up SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound). I personally believe that the goals you choose for this year and for yourself should make you, first and foremost, feel good. Running against a timer by setting up deadlines has never made me feel good, but rather stressed. In the long run, stress increases your cortisol levels and creates hormonal imbalances in your body, which is never a good thing.

So, instead of focusing on what in your life you currently wish to change, what about making it a fun process?

And to give you some more food for thoughts, I’d like to share with you a few questions I have decided to use this year to help me keep on track of my promises to myself, as well as a great story you probably know about, and if you don’t you should:

  • If you could decide today how your life will look like tomorrow, what would it look like? Use the knowledge that this is a decision you can make to take control over your life, and make it a real happy one.
  • What can you do today that your tomorrow self will thank you for?
  • Which are the big stones in your life: http://www.citehr.com/118258-big-stones-your-life.html

So, what goals will you be pursuing this year to make you feel good?