Here we are, halfway through the first month of 2025! I don’t know about you but to me, January is a huge relief despite the cold we’ve had in North Carolina these past few weeks. The holiday season is always busy, fun, and for a highly sensitive person (HSP) like me, it’s a lot. Almost too much at times. Those feelings start to ease off a bit on New Year’s Eve Day when my husband and I sit down to make our year-end charitable donations to organizations whose work we admire. The feeling of giving and appreciation centers me. Then on New Year’s Eve, Brian and I open up our “Memory Jar”, a container that holds little scraps of paper where we’ve written down things we want to remember that happened throughout the year. It’s a beautiful reminder of the events that were fun or special in the last 12 months. I wake up on January 1st feeling like a weight is off my shoulders every year. Like I can truly reset myself back to normal, or even a “new normal” if I want to.
I gave up on strict resolutions a long time ago because, like the Apple Watch commercial says, “Quitter’s Day” is the second Friday in January and frankly, that name alone rubs me the wrong way. It’s so judgmental and implies failure in a way that I don’t believe serves anyone. I hardly think that two weeks is enough to decide if a new routine or new habit is for you; are we not allowed to try things on for a bit and see how they feel? A few years ago, we were sitting around with a group of our friends and we decided that we should all “ease in” to the new year after the frantic pace of the holidays, giving ourselves grace and time to see what new things might work for us. January can be a time to decide what WE want, not what society tells us we should strive for or to fix the parts of our life deemed “wrong” by outsiders.
So if you’ve been feeling down because of a resolution that didn’t fit your needs right now or you have some family goals you’d like to consider, be gentle with yourself and make some reasonable, small changes. Be realistic about timing and magnitude. You might consider writing some of this stuff down in a journal and letting it sit for a little bit as you ponder it. One thing I do every day without fail is meditate. It’s not as daunting as it sounds and even a little bit will help center you to be in a place to know what’s best to do. I do 15-20 minutes every morning after we walk the dogs but it’s proven that even 5 minutes is beneficial. You don’t have to “be good at it”, you just have to do it consistently. I love the Calm app for all sorts of guided meditations of different lengths. Meditation doesn’t make the stress of life go away but it sure makes me better able to deal with it in an appropriate manner!
Want to know more about HSPs? Here’s a great link: https://hsperson.com
Chances are really good that you possess some of the traits or live with someone who does. I am 100% all the things so taking care of myself and knowing what works for me is really important. Maybe you get some ideas on new habits from Dr. Aron’s site.
Were you intrigued by the idea of a memory jar? With a little consistency, you too can have this end-of-year tradition! I go back through my calendar at the end of every month and add things to the jar or right at the very moment it’s happening, depending on the situation. Check out this link:
Last but not least (actually probably most!) here is the link to The Calm app:
I’m a huge fan of Jeff Warren’s Daily Trip meditations.
Lastly, I hope you’ll join me on February 2nd for my free online book club for moms of tweens and teens, coaches, or anyone who works with kids. It’s a great community!