Don't set resolutions do this gentle mental stretch

I’ll be honest with you, I’m not the greatest fan of new year’s resolutions, especially the sort that involve any kind of deprivation. It’s January, the bleakest month of the year (in the UK at least) so why should we pick the darkest, coldest, most colourless time to give up creature comforts like chocolate or cheese? Or to punish our poor, winter-weary bodies with an insane new exercise regime?

Do you see woodland creatures manically doing press-ups at this time of year? No, they’re too busy being un-busy hibernating, and I think we should follow their example.

To my mind it makes much more sense to leave all of the healthy eating and fitness goals till spring, when salads and other assorted rabbit food are cheaper and back in season, and you don’t have to go running in the cold and pitch dark.

But that being said… I do get that the new year can be a great time to take stock of your life and refocus, but in a gentle, low maintenance kind of way.

So with that in mind, I would like to share with you an exercise so easy you can do it from your bed, whilst mainlining Netflix and cheese. So easy in fact that it shouldn’t be called an exercise at all, so think of it more as a gentle mental stretch.

Basically, all you have to do is pick 3 words that you’d like to be the themes for your year ahead.

And when I say 3 words I don’t mean a 3 word sentence or slogan like: EAT MORE CAKE! (although that could work too) I mean 3 separate words that invoke a sense of joy, excitement and ease when you think about incorporating them into your life. Here’s to giving our poor nervous systems a break.

To give you an example, the 3 words I’ve picked for 2023 are SIMPLIFY, CONNECTION and ADVENTURE.

SIMPLIFY because I’m feeling the overwhelming urge to streamline all areas of my life.

CONNECTION because the pandemic years were a lonely business and made me realise how much vitality and joy I get from meeting new – and familiar – people.

ADVENTURE because the time has come for this mamma to fly her now empty nest and explore the world again.

I know these are the right words for me because when I think of each one I instinctively smile and feel at ease. And more than that, I feel excited at the prospect of incorporating these themes into my life.

If this sounds like your kind of gentle mental stretch take a moment to brainstorm some potential words for you. I had about 10 on my list of potentials before I narrowed them down to three.

When it comes to narrowing them down take a moment with each word to see how it really makes you feel. Does it make you feel light and excited, or does it feel like a little too much, or make you feel tense? Pick the 3 that resonate the most deeply.

Then, when you feel ready, you can start taking some small steps towards incorporating each word into your life.

This week I’ve taken a couple of steps towards bringing more simplicity into my life. The first was turning off the email and social media notifications on my phone. It took a matter of seconds to do but has already felt like such a game-changer. No more incessant pinging = masses more head space. And believe it or not the world hasn’t ended now I only check my emails once or twice a day.

I also cleaned out the ‘Herbs and Spices and Other Random Shit Cupboard’ in my kitchen. I’m guessing you might have one of these too. Cleaning mine out was like going on an archaeological dig. Every row of jars revealing a different time period from my tentative forays into different types of cooking via their (sometimes wildly out of date) sell by dates. My piece de resistance was discovering a jar of something called sumac lurking right at the back, dating back to my sadly short-lived Persian cooking era.

Seeing that cupboard now simply containing the six jars of herbs and spices I actually use has brought me an insane amount of joy. So much so that for the first couple of days after the purge I’d open the door and lovingly gaze inside every time I set foot in the kitchen.

Anyway, I’m sure by now you get the drift. The 3 words for 2023 gentle stretch is a great way of bringing some soft focus to your year ahead.

If you decide to do it I’d love to know the 3 words you choose, so please feel free to reply, or comment. And do feel free to share this letter with a friend if you think they’d enjoy it too.

Whichever words you choose for your new year I hope they bring you joy and peace. After all, isn’t that all we truly need?

Siobhan