Happy new year, y’all. God bless America we are FINALLY out of 2020.
So I’ve been putting off writing this for a while. Honestly, I don’t know exactly why- I think it’s because I’m putting pressure on myself for this to be perfect. For this to be an incredible, life changing episode to begin your new year with.
But like, that’s a lot of pressure. So instead of putting all this pressure on myself to write something new and exciting and insightful- I’m going to tell you a little story.
In 2017 I graduated college, which was heartbreaking for me. That was four years of fun, learning, pizza, beer- I mean I lived THE LIFE. I had had a crisis right before graduation that led me to taking some time off before attending any graduate schools. I instead spent the next year after graduation working full time retail, partying, travelling- I mean honestly, continuing to live a really fun life. I was recovering from a terrible heartbreak, though, and I realized in January of 2018 that I needed to start doing some work on myself.
To be specific, I realized on the morning of January 1st, 2018, as I woke up in the basement of my friend’s house after our NYE party and proceeded to get my hungover self up and to McDonald’s for a bacon egg and cheese McGriddle. I had a 6 hour shift to work as a manager, and I was not doing well.
As I drove I just had this kind of epiphany, and it sparked some major change in my life. After that day, I started taking better care of myself physically. I started listening to my body, what it liked for me to eat, what it didn’t. I started focusing on happiness more, too, and I called the year HAPPY2018. I had 29 good days in a row to start the year off. Yeah, I kept count.
That year I learned a lot about myself. Like I said, I learned about my health and my happiness. I learned to love being alone. I gained sooooo much confidence, so much insight into the world.
I attribute ALL of this to beginning my year with good intentions. I mean I didn’t have 29 good days in a row because nothing bad happened- I had 29 days in a row because I had a positive outlook, and I sought the good in even difficult times. The way you begin your year is essential to setting the tone for your perception of the rest of the year. Trust me, last NYE I got all upset and mad at Adam over something STUPID, and we were in DUBLIN for New Years. Like we should've been having the time of our lives and I was having a brat moment. I look back on that now and I’m like- Alanna, why? But I also see how that attitude as we walked into a new decade set the tone for a lot of things that have happened in my life and relationships this year.
I’ve been able to learn from that, thankfully, and from the things I experienced and learned in 2018. The discipline it instilled in me to find the good- well that ends up being very useful, ya know? Years like 2020, you have to try to find joy or good a little harder sometimes than others, so learning that has been very valuable.
Now from here- i want to talk to you a little bit about goals. Goals are daunting, especially because we feel like we have to set these big extravagant new years resolutions that require an entire overhaul of who we are as people. Ya know what's crazy, though? That’s so entirely unnecessary.
Goals shouldn’t be so daunting that we are discouraged from achieving them- and this is especially true when we are trying to do something super new, or make a big change. I want to remind y’all to challenge yourselves absolutely- always, for the rest of your lives. But start small. Goals that are challenging but also attainable are the way to go- and if you have a big giant lofty goal, split it up into smaller parts, so that it’s made up of those smaller attainable goals. There’s nothing wrong with that.
So- to summarize this short and sweet (and hopefully at least slightly inspiring) podcast episode- seek joy in every place you can, a diet doesn’t mean no Reeses, it just means less, and make sure you begin this new year with positivity, challenging yourself to always be better than you were yesterday.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, FRIENDS.
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