Looking back

As I shared last week, I don't want to keep living on autopilot and end up full of regrets. While the first few decades of my life were dominated by family issues and eating disorders, I now finally have more control over my circumstances. It's time for me to let go of the past, embrace my present situation, and make the best of what I have.

I recently spent a week at the lake, using that time to relax, enjoy good food, take long walks, and contemplate the year ahead. In the spirit of practicing what I preach, I crafted my current life vision and then made a list of short and longer-term goals based on that. It was a powerful reminder of the importance of being intentional with our lives, having a sense of purpose and direction. Choosing what we want to work towards will determine the kind of person we'll become.

Next week, I'll share my list of goals and how I went about creating. Today, I'd like to share the results of another exercise. As I thought about my life vision, I felt filled with enthusiasm for future possibilities. Part of me, though, was also feeling sad about how little I'd accomplished in 2023 (and the years before that). I had this nagging feeling of having wasted my life yet again, so I actually spent some time thinking back to last year and realized it wasn't that bad after all. Sure, there's lots I wish I had done differently, there were disappointments and heartbreaks, there were challenges I could have handled better and opportunities I didn't take advantage of. But there were also a fair number of positives: new friends, new experiences, some traveling, time with family, new knowledge, and more peace of mind.

In no particular order, here's a list of nice things that happened in the course of 2023: I met new students; started my blog; began learning Spanish and found a great teacher from Mexico; went through two coaching trainings that gave me tools I started applying to my own life and that I can now share with others, and met two lovely women who are now my "coaching besties"; met another lovely woman who is now my accountability buddy (even though we've both been slacking lately!); went on a few cool trips with an old friend from uni and his dog; joined a few Girl Gone International meet-ups and discovered Turin is full of expats; spent time at the mountains, at the sea, and at the lake; visited an Italian region I had never been to; traveled to Lugano, Munich, and Utrecht; became more mindful and intentional; kept up my yoga practice; started reading up on nervous system regulation and implementing those lessons into my daily life with very promising results.

I recommend you go through this exercise as well. It gives you the chance to celebrate your wins (big and small ones alike), acknowledge the challenges you had to face, reflect on your overall journey, and better identify your strengths and weaknesses. It also provides you with a better sense of what you want to carry on doing this year and what you want to let go of and leave behind. Here are some prompts to help you get started.

• What were some key moments from last year? (It can help to go through your calendar or look through your photos or social media posts)
• What were your greatest achievements and the greatest obstacles you faced?
• What about 2023 are you grateful for?
• What instead are you frustrated/unhappy about?
• Based on these experiences, what would you want to change this year (in your relationships, health, work and life in general)?
• What's your biggest takeaway from all these reflections?

Now that we've done the looking back, it's time to look forward and plan our 2024. As I mentioned, I'm going to share my list of goals. Another thing we could do is plan a Zoom session where we can all work on this together, harnessing the power of being part of a community. It would also be a chance to get to know each other a bit more, and maybe we could plan a few more sessions on other topics throughout the year. If that's something you're interested in, you can fill out this form. You can also invite other people to join and share the link to the form with them. If there are at least five participants, I'll arrange a session by the end of the month (it would probably be on a Saturday).

So, what are your reflections around 2023? Share them in the comment section, along with any other insights and observations you may have. As always, you can also email me or call me to chat about this and other issues related to personal development, self-care, and just life in general. Don't forget to share my post with someone who might find it useful, and have a great week!