Writing goals for 2023
Goodbye 2022, hello 2023. New year is a time for reflection and planning. I don’t know about you, but I have a bad habit of reflecting on what I did not achieve. These thoughts ramp up an internal frenzy to redeem myself in the coming year which almost always leads to a case of over-promising and under-delivering and more critical reflections the following December.
I really want to do the same thing again. I want to make good on all the promises I broke in 2022. But if I am kind – and honest – a whole heap of things happened in 2022 that I couldn’t control. I’ve been diagnosed with a long-term chronic illness, rheumatoid arthritis, and on top of that I have something called SVT (super ventricular tachycardia) which means my heart sometimes beats way faster than it should, causing me to faint unexpectedly. This means I am not the person I used to be. I don’t have the mental or physical stamina to power through big workloads anymore. I have a finite amount of energy, and I have to nurture it. I still haven’t quite come to terms with this loss. I keep thinking I’ll wake up tomorrow and be all systems go. My doctors encourages me to believe this. They insist that when we get my medication right, I’ll become old me again. It’s been about 15 months and we haven’t got there yet. Maybe that will be my big surprise for 2023, but I won’t be holding my breath waiting for the change. (I’m pretty sure all that will result in is more fainting, and really, I’m over that.)
I have a feeling a lot of other people are in the same boat – the one in which 2022 laid down a s***load of trouble that veered you off course through no fault of your own. It really doesn’t matter what you promise yourself; if circumstances change you have to adapt. So I’m going to think of those promises as not broken but on hold or subject to revision, and I encourage you to do the same. I am going to take a tip from psychologist Karen Nimmo and focus instead on one thing to change in 2023 as opposed to a dozen things to achieve.
I’m going to focus on courage. The courage required to be imperfect and fallible and to show up and keep trying even when I don’t want to. In my case, this means giving up procrastination as an art form and life skill and lean into whatever is causing me to sweat and reach for my favourite mind numbing activity. (Most of this year it’s been sudoku but housework has also proved ‘useful’.) I’m also going to adopt the headlight approach to writing and life, and not try to see into the shadows beyond the light or anticipate what is around the bend. Hopefully, this December, I’ll be able to look back and say, ‘Ah yes, May was when the headlamps unexpectedly revealed….’ Etcetera.
Whether you approach 2023 in a roar of speed or in first gear, I wish you success this year, but more importantly, I wish you contentment, happiness and good health.