This has been a challenging year for me personally and as the time approaches for my next birthday I have been reflecting on all the changes that have happened in my life in the past year both personally and professionally.

I have made a promise to myself in the past couple months to reclaim my joy. It’s so easy to get lost in all the things I have to do that I recently realized I don’t often ask myself about the things I want to do, much less make the time and space for those things. It’s a difficult thing to realize, but it has prompted me to really give myself more space. So, my birthday resolution this year is to do more of the things I want even if it means I do a little less of the other stuff.

Here are some tools I have found helpful and perhaps you will too:

Make room for curiosity. What are you curious about that you talk yourself out of?
Do non-productive things badly. You don’t need to be the best artist or dancer or baker. Give yourself permission to do fun things just because.
Do set limits. In personal and work relationships. It will be uncomfortable, but limits are about you and not about other people allowing you to have them.
Let go of that which is not serving you. Take inventory of your beliefs, stories, and daily habits. What is not serving you? Why are you holding on to it? What would happen if you let it go?
Face your fears. Often the narrative about the thing we’re afraid of is much worse than the thing itself. Our mind creates dragons where there are puppies.

A final bit of advice: being uncomfortable is not the same as being unsafe. It’s important to cultivate skills to be able to discern the difference. If this is something you would like to work toward please feel free to reach out.