Reflections on 2020 and Intentions for the New Year

Can you believe that we are almost at the end of January ? It feels like we just raised our champagne glasses yesterday to welcome the New Year. By the way did you stay up till midnight? We did, for the first time in three years and it felt awesome!

On Sunday I was able to get away from my house for the first time this year. Of course, amidst the COVID pandemic, I could not go far, just my mom's house down the street. But this occasional getaway is a life savior for me, I use this time to read, rest, blog, to plan for the week ahead and to reflect. I am beyond grateful for my husband who is agreeing to stay home with the kids and give me this much needed me time.

I took the time to intimately look back at 2020, what it has been and what we have learned from it. It has definitely been one of the hardest years, but it has also brought us a lot of joy & love - we welcomed our baby Abigail and she has been the squishiest most adorable little human. I also took the time to reflect on our lifestyle, our challenges, our collective wants and needs and more important the daily choices that we make as a family.

I have always been a fan of making a plan and sticking to it. It seemed so obvious & so easy. But realistically, now with three littles at home my days are filled with a billion of agendas and I am being pulled in a variety of different directions at any given time. I realized that making a strict plan just doesn't work. It does not work for our ever changing daily rhythms and it sure does not work for my sanity. Unrealized expectations and goals create more frustrations & self disappointment at the end of the day and that obviously defeats the purpose.

So here we go... my biggest intention for 2021 is to stop creating intimidating, momentous goals that lack small, attainable accomplishments on a daily basic. I know this might sound vast, but I believe this will set the right foundation for everything else.

Here are a few things I intend to focus on this year:

• Let go of behaviors that drain me & choose positive thoughts over wining and complaining.

It will challenging to rid myself of this habit, I admit it. Especially after a rough day when kids refused to nap, the house is in disarray, there is no clean underwear and no dinner on the table. My husband and I talked about creating a "no wining Friday". Why Friday? Because usually that's the day when everything piles up from the week and its very easy to mentally lose it. If we make this effort, we will set the right tone for the weekend ahead. If one of us complains or wines, we put a dollar in a jar.

• Implement a weekly work out routine even its its from my own backyard.

I definitely fell of the wagon with working out and none of my three back-to-back pregnancies had any mercy on my body. I am not committing myself to a rigid schedule. But, I am ready to pull out that yoga mat & dumbbells from the garage and see where that takes me.

• Be intentional about self- care.

This deserves a whole post of its own, which I promise to get to soon. In just few words... I am throwing away all my make-up an item at a time and switching to safer products from clean & sustainable brands like Beautycounter, Skylar, Urban Oreganics & Primally Pure.

• Read 25+ books.

Last year I set a goal on Goodreads to read 10 books. I never thought I would be able to read 14. I've always had a love affair with books, but being a mom of three littles has definitely took a toll on that relationship. Starting to read again brought me so much joy and fueled my intellectual hunger. I learned ways of squeezing in a little reading time almost on the daily basis (if you are struggling here, best advice I can give you is not to bring your phone into your bedroom with you). I've also discovered my new favorite authors. Fredrick Backman's Anxious People and Kristin Hannah's The Great Alone topped my list of all time favorite reads. Drop me a line below to let me know what are some of your current favorites. Here is a blog post with all the books that I read in 2020. You can also follow along on Goodreads and see my reviews, what I am currently reading and what's on my TBR list for this year. If you want to start on the reading journey, but do not know where to start, I highly recommend Book of The Month Subscription. This is really what brought me back into the reading world last year. Your first month’s book is just $9.99. After that, it’s $14.99/month.You never have to research new titles, all the books are hardcover, you can skip months or add add ons to your monthly boxes. It’s all up to you.

• Continue on the path of intentional living.

To question my daily choices and look for more sustainable, healthier and environmentally friendlier options; be it in the kitchen, at home or places I shop. This can be a lot of different things from implementing more plant-based/vegan foods in our house to bringing my own bags to the grocery store, to supporting small local businesses.

• Journaling.

Is too easy to forget and overlook all the wonderful things that are happening on the daily basis, especially when you are feeling stressed . I started writing down my thoughts and our daily shenanigans with kids last year. My writing skills mediocre to say the least, so my intention is not to write a beautiful masterpiece. but rather set feelings and memories to paper and give them a permanent place. I have a few journals I keep: one for my daily to-dos, one for our family life, one for each of my children (its a yearly journal that I am planing to gift each one of them when they turn 21) and one little book where I write down all the funny things they say. I try to get up before sunrise a few times a week and journal while the house is quiet and I watch the sun coming up from my kitchen window. This practice has helped me start the day on the right foot and leave all the negative in the day that has passed. It helps me consciously recognize what I have and to feel grateful.

• Be more intentional with the time spent on my phone and social media.

This one is a biggy. It can start as an innocent post and can go on for a 30 min of unintentional browsing. I started to be more aware of how much I am holding the phone in my hands. I stopped bringing it to the bedroom and I try to put it away when I play with my kids. It has been life changing. There is a documentary on Netflix called Social Dilemma. Watch it, it is alarming and eye opening.

• Spend more time outdoors.

It has been a real challenge in the last year, I have to be honest. I read the book There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather by a Scandinavian mom and her appreciation of spending time outdoors with her children (all rooted in research and mind blowing data). It gave me a new perspective on raising healthier, resilient and confident children - outdoors! Read it. It is truly a gem!

And a few little things :

- Organizing all my Iphone photos + printing family albums. I am a big hoarder of baby pics. I take a million of them a day and then feel guilty deleting any of them. It’s time to give them some order.

- Watch 1-2 movies or documentaries a month. I am not a big TV person, but it does feel good to kick it with a glass of wine on the couch once in a while. I watched Queens Gambit last month and I truly enjoyed it.

- Go on two husband and me dates a month, even if its just a walk in the neighborhood with our dog Lady. It is a time for us to leave the "mom & dad" at home and to just me us ...husband and wife or better yet boyfriend and girlfriend.

If you are struggling with some of your intentions, I sincerely encourage you to put what makes you happy on paper and take it a day at a time. It will feel amazing!