Hi, my friends! This post comes in a little later than I would expect but here we are.

How have you been? Has the start of 2022 really thrown you off the edge, even more than usual? Well then, you’ve come to the right place.

So here’s the thing. I’m not big on new year’s resolutions. Never was and don’t think I would ever get into it. But then this year, I thought, why not. But, let me try a goal. Because goals seem more realistic than resolutions yes? Also, goals have a better ring to them when you say them and less cliche than a mere resolution. Do you know what I mean?

So with that in mind, I decided to go ahead and complete the Yoga with Adriene (YWA) challenge for 2022. At the end of the month, I have to report that I failed. I did make a nice template, shared it to my Instagram to hold myself accountable and well, failed. To be honest, I did title it “30 days of exercise” which I do believe I got. However, I didn’t get my 30 days of yoga. But again, it’s what it is. The challenge in itself is excellent because Adriene is excellent.

I really want us to try and focus on small steps for 2022.

A very close friend of mine, (Hi, Betty!) tweeted about keeping track of the number of pages we read in a year as opposed to the number of books, and I think that is an excellent way to preface this point.

I think a lot of the time, at least for me, I tend to lose motivation when I know that I haven’t achieved my goal. Similar to my YWA challenge, which I haven’t been able to achieve, once I went passing a time I knew that it was too late to make it to the deadline without compromise, I gave up. I know I continued to work out as part of my role as a Pilates teacher and yoga student, but I wasn’t doing the challenge was I?

And that’s okay.

I don’t also mean that in the way we sugar coat life’s circumstances to ourselves when things go wrong. That isn’t what it is. The important thing to understand here is that we all take stock of:

1. What we are capable of doing.
2. How much time and energy we have for ourselves to do what we want to do.
3. What would be sacrificed adding an extra item to your plate? This could come in the form of sleep, a TV show, spending time with loved ones etc.
4. How soon do you want to do what you want to do.

Perhaps and a few other points (which I do believe you will figure out on your own) that will help you really narrow down on what you want to get done.

We don’t have to finish everything.

Really, we don’t. I don’t know if you know this about me, but I read synopses in books, films etc before consuming them (also to help calm my anxiety haha). I would go ahead with it once I know if it’s good, entertaining etc. Very rarely do I stop something halfway, I might even skim through. But sometimes, it happens.

And that’s okay too.

Again, I’m not sugar-coating this. I think a lot of the time, this sense of accomplishment and achievement also comes with finishing something and completing something.

Sometimes, when you don’t complete it, be it a marathon, a movie or even a marriage, true enough the ending may have worked out differently in your mind, BUT, you did experience something you wouldn’t have been able to otherwise experience.

And how amazing is that? It’s important that we recognise these little things. Especially for those like you and me, whom I strongly believe might resonate with some of the mental health concerns that I have. We need to recognise what might have worked and what didn’t, and we learn from it. In yoga and meditation, oftentimes, when we forget what we are supposed to do or get distracted, we do the very small act of coming back to our breath.

That’s what I want you to try and do. I want you to come back to your breath. Focus on breathing in and breathing out. You are here. You are alive. You are breathing. You might not have completed, but you attempted. Your experience is valid.

Thank you for being here and thank you for reading.

I hope you are able to own this year, despite everything around us.

#ThinkSunny🌻