The end of 2023 is fast approaching. Along with it ALL the emails, social media posts, and discussions about how you should complete a review of the old year. What did you do, how were you productive, what goals did you achieve and what fears did you conquer?

Relentlessly followed by: What will you accomplish next year?  What goals will you crush? How will you top this past year?

For many people, December may be a time of concentrated planning for the New Year. Still, it is also decidedly in the middle of nature’s time of deep rest and subsequent renewal in the northern hemisphere. The shortest day of the year is tomorrow, with the long, dark, cold nights that accompany it. Here in the PNW the short days are often filled with endless rain and damp as well. All of which make me want to nap, not crush new goals.

Ever since I went to Alaska several years ago, the truth that this is the season of rest, when nature goes dormant after the harvest and many living things die is something I feel deep in my bones (along with said colder and damper weather).  

I suggest shifting during this time to focus on who you want to be while you enter the cocoon of darker nights and quietly falling snow and rain. Who are you becoming? How do you want to be in 2024? Get clear on those answers first. 

Then you can stretch, emerge, and begin planning what you may want to do in the new year, all the while holding these ideas gently to see where the alignment arises during spring’s rebirth.

There is an undeniable energy of renewal culturally as the new year begins and the days begin getting longer, although we probably won’t notice it for a bit. 

Instead of charging ahead with all the doing, Use that energy to consider the importance of being. It can also be a time of deciding what events and identities to leave behind as much as what to become. 

There’s no need to rush into the future. It will be here soon enough. Instead, be present and focus on who you are and how you want to be. How do you want to show up for yourself and those hold dear?

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