A Simple New Year’s Practice | ep178
A New Year’s Letter to You
Dear Love,
You made it.
You made it through this year. You made it through this year of hardship, uncertainty, and difficulty.
There were moments where you were truly tested. There were moments where you thought, “I can't do this.”
But you did, and here you are.
You made it, love.
You held it down. You pivoted. You made it work.
Regardless of what you did this year, getting to this day is itself the greatest accomplishment of all.
May you not judge yourself for how you got here, but instead celebrate the fact that you did.
May you realize how truly incredible you are.
If the last few years have taught us anything, it's that within the shadows, there's always a light.
But you have to look for it.
Sometimes you have to look so long and hard that you're unsure it's there. But then you stumble on it.
And somehow, the smallest of things, the slightest of moments shows you how truly abundant you are.
Truth is, you are abundant because you always have you.
This year has shown you how capable you are, not by what you got done, but by the fact that you are here.
If you can navigate this last year, love, love then you can navigate it all.
The New Year Can Be a Really Complicated Time
Some of us enter into it with disappointment, shame, or judgment because we’re holding on to what we did or didn’t do in the last year.
Simultaneousy, many of us are feeling really optimistic about what could possibly happen in the next 12 months.
So today is not about goals and resolutions and intentions.
It's about going inward.
Let’s clear out all of that emotional baggage that we may have around the past year and really lean into, open up to, and expand into the new year with some genuine optimism and hope.
Today, I’m sharing with you some really impactful reflective exercises, questions, and prompts. So grab a journal and pen or open up your notes app and let’s get into it, love.
What Would You Name The Last Year?
Oftentimes when we look back on a year, any year, all we see are the things we didn't accomplish. All we can focus on are all the things that we didn't do and we tend to forget what we were going through.
We tend to forget the circumstances we were in and the hardships that we had to endure.
We tend to forget the demands on our time, on our energy.
We tend to forget our emotional, mental, physical health.
So love, we're going to try our first exercise:
I want you to look back on the last 12 months and name the year as a movie title.
Now, I want you to imagine yourself as the imperfectly perfect, lovable but also quirky hero of this movie. You know, when we watch a romantic comedy, we are always rooting for the hero. Even when they mess up, even when things go left, we are always in their corner.
Now, think of yourself as the star, the hero of this movie.
As you reflect on the plot of this movie, the last 12 months, I want you to also reflect on what this main character, you, was going through:
What were some of the challenges that came your way?
What kind of resources were available to you or not available to you?
What was your community like?
What was your mindset like?
What was your greatest dream, your wish, and what was your greatest fear?
As you think of this year as this hero who is imperfectly perfect, can you have some understanding or compassion for them?
So often when we look at our past, we see ourselves as the villain of the movie.
We forget that we are that lovable hero, that hero who is so human.
Can you see yourself from that perspective?
Can you see the last year, this wild movie that you're in, from that perspective?
Can you forgive yourself for what you did or didn't do?
If you can't forgive yourself, can you just have a little bit of understanding?
Can you at least understand why you did what you did or why you couldn't do what you didn't do?
Forgiveness is such a big part of letting go
It’s really hard for us to step into a new year when we're still holding on to the weight of the last year. When we create intentions, goals, or resolutions, we end up creating them with the weight of that last year.
And so our intentions, our goals, our resolutions don't really end up being our deepest wants and desires. Then, deep down, we have this belief that it's probably not possible.
We'll write out the resolutions, the goals, the intentions, whatever they may be, but deep down, there's that voice that says, “Well, you didn't do it last year. So why is this year going to be any different?”
I don't want that for any of us.
I want that voice deep within us to say, “Okay, last year, we didn't do the things we wanted to do.
But this year is going to be different.”
So love, before moving into this new year, before even considering what you want to do this coming year, I really encourage you to take a moment and see if you can extend some compassion and some forgiveness to the version of you that tried their best in this last year.
Now, let’s go into our next exercise and step into the future.
Take a moment and think of the future version of you 12 months from now
Imagine what that version of you is thanking this current version of you for having done this past year.
These don't have to be goals or accomplishments. Think more inward.
What are you prioritizing?
What are you valuing?
What are you working on?
What are you working toward?
I really want you to imagine what this future version of you is deeply thankful for you for.
Maybe they’re saying:
Thank you for prioritizing our rest and our ease.
Thank you for blocking off time in your calendar where we could just go for walks or do nothing.
Thank you for reading more books.
Thank you for looking into that ceramics workshop. That was so much fun.
Thank you for having that incredibly hard conversation that led to X, Y, or Z.
Thank you for being so damn courageous when you did blank.
As simple as these exercises may seem, they will truly shift and and transform how you navigate the next 12 months. Take a moment whenever you’re ready to sit with them and I am wishing you the most incredible new year.
Tune into this week’s podcast episode — 178 | A Simple New Year’s Practice — to hear the full behind-the-scenes look at an actual Wholehearted Coaching session.
Did you know that each podcast episode comes with free guided journal prompts?
If you want to be in the know and get each Mindset Monday straight to your inbox complete with journal prompts to take you even further, get on my email list.
About your host, Shirin Eskandani
Hi, love! I’m Shirin.
Coach, speaker, writer, and life alchemist.
I teach you how to listen to your intuition again, tune out all the BS, and let your heart lead the way.
Because once you strengthen your inner GPS, decisions become easier, boundaries become clearer, and belly laughs become a daily thing.
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME:
I’m a certified life coach (accredited through the International Coach Federation)
My husband and I met on Instagram and we live in Brooklyn, NY with our plant babies
I have a masters degree in Music and was a professional opera singer for twelve years. I worked all over the world singing on stage at Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera (more on that later…).
I believe in the woo just as much as I do the work (internal and external). No amount of crystals and affirmations will make up for a lack of a healthy mindset and aligned action.
I love all the Real Housewives franchises. Don’t make me choose one… seriously, don’t.