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Don't Quit, Reflect.

The Taylor Way • December 5, 2022

“I can’t wait for next year”

“Next year is going to be amazing”

“I just need this year to be done”

Have you heard any of these or variations of them floating out there these days? Have you said them yourself? It is so easy to jump right to “THIS YEAR SUCKED AND I WANT IT DONE”. The problem with that is that often we not only start focusing on the suckage part of it (yes that is my created word for it) but in doing that I have seen people give up and quit with up to 3 months left in their year!!!!! I don’t know about you but time flies fast enough these days. I really don’t want to just walk away from something so valuable.

So here is what I want to challenge you to do. Continue living life to the fullest up till the end of the year. Find a positive. I know it can be hard. I know it can be depressing. This time of year brings up A LOT OF FEELS for so many of us. Missing family members, reminders of breaks in relationships, being alone, not having kids, not feeling financially able to handle it all. Not including the stress of all the meetings and work and life and kids and concerts and fun and parties and and and and……. I get it.

Find your happy. What does this mean? It means find your happy. What makes you happy? Look over your calendar for the rest of the month and cancel EVERYTHING that doesn’t have to be there. Is there a meeting that can wait till January? Move it. Is there a show you don’t actually want to go to? Cancel it. SIMPLIFY YOUR WORLD!!!! Lower those expectations and take a deeper breath.

At the end of the month I want you to try something new.

  1. Grab your phone and your calendar (google, paper, wall?!?! Whatever you use)
  2. Grab a few pieces of paper and a pen or pencil, maybe a marker or 2
  3. Start with your schedule. Go back to January 1st of the current year and ask yourself a few questions:
    1. What did I love in January? What meetings were beneficial? What friend time did I adore? What did I do that I SHOULD NOT HAVE? Did I have a giant win that month?
  4. Take your papers and write on them:
    1. What do i want to do more of this next year
    2. What do i refuse to do this next year
    3. What do i need to add to this next year
  5. Rinse and repeat for the whole year. Really take stock on how your year went. You will be amazed at what you have forgotten over the year (especially the good stuff!!) but also what you did that is a HELL NO moving forward (those damn lunch dates with that crazy person who is so toxic you want to cry after. Those ones)
  6. Now grab your phone and go back through your photos. One at a time. Laugh, cry, delete, favourite, save them to print but most importantly remember.

I heard somewhere once that we only have an average of 57 Christmases after we move out. Or 65 ski seasons. We only have 13 summer vacations with our kids. We are so quick to move on to bigger and better years and days that we forget to enjoy what we have had. I know this will take a little time but I promise it is worth it. I do it every year and am always SO grateful I did.

Here are a few of the questions that I ask myself every single year. Feel free to email your answers. I would love to celebrate with you! Here are some of mine below:

What about this last year was amazing?

Road trip to the states and back, friendships that have grown deeper than I could have imagined, passion for business and future full force again, figuring out health things

What did you learn this last year?

How much I can really handle. The level of stubbornness I have in me!! The true meaning of radical self care

Who were 3 people in your life that influenced you the most?

My husband

My doctor

My friends

What is one decision you made that changed your year the most?

To move back to Edmonton

What is something you did that you are proud of?

Paid off debt and got a million IVs!!! I have a massive needle phobia so it was a BIG ASS DEAL

What is one thing you did that you would undo if you could?

The time we lived in Vernon. It was such a waste of time and energy and money when we should have just moved back here right away. In the time? It was the best decision but looking back? Heck no

What are three words to describe your year?

Rollercoaster, grounding, connection

What is one thing you want to remind yourself of for next year?

Even though you have a million ideas of what you want to do, stay focused on a few at a time and follow them through to completion. YES I mean finish book 2 before book 3 (probably won’t listen to that last part)

What was the biggest risk you took in 2021? Hard slowing down my business to focus on my health and hoping and praying it would recover. Most people don’t know that I slowed it down to about 20% of what I had been doing…. SCARY

What was the biggest surprise in 2022? That we moved back to Edmonton!!!

What important relationship improved the most in 2022? The one between me and my body and health ❤️

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