2020 Vision - Reflecting on a Decade
I’m pretty strict when it comes to regular maintenance for my car. As I was leaving my regular oil change and tire rotation just today, the mechanic was shocked as to how long I had been entrusting my car with them. He laughed as he said, “ Your first visit here was October of 2010”. I smiled and left, and then it hit me – I’ve been going to the same mechanic for 10 years – a decade! Oh yea, in case you haven’t realized, not only are we approaching the end of a year, but the end of a decade.
For the past few years, as the new year approaches, I like to reflect a little bit on that year. Really looking over what has worked, what hasn’t, what goals did I have, what goals did I meet, the highs and the lows, the ups and downs and everything in between. I typically do this through journaling because writing is very therapeutic for me. And then, I begin to map out the upcoming year. Almost reworking how I had analyzed the previous year, but setting intentions and goals and dreams and desires – and then I like to try and sum it all up in one word. Ok – maybe that’s a little overwhelming for you, but creating this “word of the year” has been very enlightening and challenging at the same time.
In 2018 – my word of the year was GROWTH which to me was the desire to do and be better in many aspects of my life – running, parenting, and business related. I had so much growth in the first half of that year….that my word ebbed and flowed into the word SURRENDER for the remaining months.
In 2019 – my word of the year was KUMBHAKA which is the pause between our inhalation and our exhalation – where we have the chance to choose how we respond to situations.
In true reflective fashion, I sat down earlier this month and read some of my previous blogs, and no surprise here, I wrote about choosing a word of the year – and I shared some tips on how to do it.
If you had to choose one word to describe your theme for the year, what would it be? Write down several words and narrow it down. Now maybe your theme is a sentence like, “keep moving forward”. That’s fine; come up with something. As you write your lists and define your theme, note the connotation. Let’s stay away from the negative and move towards the positive.
Next up, make a list of words you could use to describe yourself. Within each of those categories, come up with mini goals. Keep in mind your word to describe the year. Let that help you formulate new goals and things you want to accomplish. The next thing to do is to make action steps of how you are going to accomplish these goals. If you want to eat less sugar, you could put a positive spin on it by saying in order to eat less sugar you are going to eat more dark leafy greens and vegetables. If you want to lose weight, formulate a goal for incorporating more movement and exercise into your day.
10 years ago I was still working at the CDC, expecting my first child, I mean – good grief – I was still in my 20’s haha! I’ve come so far, and I’m sure you have too. And isn’t that what we’re supposed to do. To grow and change. To reflect and dream. To make mistakes and learn.
For 2020 – my word of the year will be ALIGNMNET – I know, I know, so cliché for a chiropractor to choose this word, but hear me out. For me alignment represents choosing activities, clubs, and organizations which align with my goals and dreams. It represents saying yes to somethings, and probably a whole lotta no’s to things. It represents using words and actions which align with who I am and who I want to be. It represents defining what it means to be healthy and investing in the health and wellness of my family. And it also represents the structural beauty of the nervous system. How the natural curves of the spine are essential for proper nervous system function. Alignment to me doesn’t mean straight and rigid. The curves of the spine help the brain and body communicate efficiently and the curves of our lives help us to become who we are meant to be.
It’s hard to not get too caught up in over-analyzing this past decade. And I think I said it best in a previous blog about goal setting: The biggest thing to remember is to not be hard on yourself if goals change, if life throws you curve balls, and if you’ve got to be flexible.
I’m here for you though if things seem to get out of alignment and you need help fixing those curves 😉
~Dr. Shannon