New Year, Better You

It is evening as I write this to you, friend. I’m sitting in a dimly lit room, candles flickering, Nat King Cole singing softly in the background. We are a few days before Christmas, and I’m certain you’re embracing the season. Maybe you’re busy attending school programs, or you’re directing the church Christmas pageant, or the Christmas Cantata. Sometimes all of this goodness can lead to a season of fatigue, or overwhelm. And all of these good things leave us feeling like we need a fresh start. I’ve been thinking of the New Year. It’s just around the corner, too. It will be 2025 before we know it and with it will come projects, goals, and resolutions. I want us to walk through an exercise to consider what next year looks like to you. Instead of New Year, New You… let’s lean into what New Year, Better You means, and how we can achieve it.

What a new year can bring

I read a book by David Allen titled Getting Things Done. It’s a productivity book, and while I fully embrace the methodology he promotes, there was one thing he wrote that specifically that stood out to me. He said {paraphrased} that if you wait six weeks, what you thought your life would look like, would likely change. We can’t see the future or what it holds for us.

In fact, he makes the argument that if we look back at the last six weeks of our lives, there were likely surprises, roadblocks, or obstacles to overcome. His point is that we can plan for every circumstance, and life will inevitably throw us a curve ball.

Knowing this should not deter us from seeking to embrace the idea of New Year, Better You. There are likely many things you want to embrace or release, improve or reduce, learn or unlearn in 2025.

Knowing who you want to be

Often we look to the new year with goals and resolutions, but we don’t spend the time to think through who the person behind those choices really is. I wrote a whole post about becoming the person you want to be; I’ll link it in the resources section below. With is a journal and a companion planner to help you first, define who you want to be, and then plan toward those choices.

So often, we think of the new year with hopeful optimism. We will start a work out regimen, we’ll finally lose those 10 pesky pounds, we’ll start eating well, and we’ll embrace rest. But all of these choices take intention, and planning. A dream without a plan is just a wish.

So I want to encourage you to dream about the New Year, and I want you to plan for the Better You. Let’s start with an exercise:

Identifying the next action

In the book, Getting Things Done, David Allen talks about identifying the next action as the single most important step to productivity. Often we can see the project in a broader sense, and even break down the pieces and parts. However, until we identify the next action, we really can’t move forward or see progress.

And so, with the lists you created above regarding your New Year, Better You, I want you to think about and identify what the next action would be to move that ideal improvement forward. If it’s exercise, maybe the next action is simply scheduling it on your calendar, or maybe your next action is securing child care first, so you can schedule it on your calendar. If it’s being intentional about time off, maybe it’s setting a boundary that one specific time per week will be blocked off for rest. Many people can’t schedule a complete Sabbath day for rest, but many can block off one night per week where no events are scheduled or invitations accepted. It’s simply a free evening set aside to rest and rejuvenate, to focus on the Better You only rest can bring.

Know your definition of enough

What about things you want to decrease? What is the next action you can take to begin decreasing the things in your life that are keeping you from the Better You? At the beginning of 2024, I had some difficult decisions to make. I was experiencing stress at an all time high and it was causing me a lot of mental and emotional stress. I was remembering things from years past, experiencing nightmares, and reliving old emotional wounds. It caused me to think about what ‘enough’ really means. I finally determined that enough is a choice, not an amount. I encourage you to read that post if you’re struggling, it may encourage you. I’ll leave it in the resources below.

In short, I began to allow myself to remember the things I so desperately tried to forget. Except, this time, I remembered them and told myself, “I’ve carried that burden long enough. I can let it go.” There were things I carried blame for that were not mine to carry. I remembered the situation, but instead of reliving it in detail, I allowed myself to say, “I have lived with this burden long enough. I can move on.”

Knowing the meaning of my ‘enoughs’ was my next action, and it was one that I can’t stress the importance of enough.

Slow Steps and Leaps of Faith

Sometimes the road to New Year Better You requires slow steady steps. If better health, weight loss, or better eating habits is one of your goals, this can certainly be achieved, but with slow and steady steps in the right direction. Other times, the road to a Better You, requires a leap of faith.

This year, I took a massive leap of faith to start this blog. I cut back my work hours, completed client projects, and focused on a dream. I’m currently writing a book I’ve had in my heart for over a decade. One thing I know is that some choices require slow steps, and others require leaps of blind faith.

What is absolutely certain is that we must believe that our goals are achievable, whether by a slower process or a drastic change. We must press into the challenge, the hard work, the uncertainty…even fear. I want so much for you to write out your goals, define the next action, and believe that what you set your heart toward is achievable!

What if you fly?

There is a well-known saying, I come across it frequently. It says: “There is freedom waiting for you, on the breezes of the sky, and you ask, “What if I fall?” Oh but my darling, what if you fly?” So many times the fear of failure holds us back. I know this to be personally true. Sometimes we do fail, but that cannot keep us from reaching for our goals, or attempting to achieve our dreams.

Time to dream

And so, as we wind down our conversation, I want to leave you with a few prompts that may help you identify the areas where you want to see change in the New Year that will bring you to a Better You. Your assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to dream big, imagine your best life, imagine your better self, imagine what it would feel like to achieve the goals and experience a New Year, Better You.

New Year, Better You

Your new year doesn’t have to be a complete makeover of your life. Even if you seek to only see a 1% increase or improvement every day, you will find yourself making improvements. One percent improvement everyday may not seem like a lot, but it will add up. At the end of the year, you will have achieved massive improvements. You can do it! Here’s to your New Year, Better You!

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