December Intentions

Last month, best month!

Here we are, the last month of the year — and the last month of the decade.

December is always a bit of a struggle for me. Unpopular Opinion: I’m not crazy about the holiday season. Probably because I’m Jewish and Chanukah just doesn’t have the same charm as Christmas… or at least that’s what I gather. I wouldn’t actually know. The weather officially sucks — right this second NYC is doing that ugly freezing rain thing it likes to do. And I find this time of year to be a bit lonely TBH. But I digress…

Knowing that I’m not crazy about December, I tried to create intentions for this month that encourage me to savor and find the magic in this time of the year even if it’s not my personal fave.

My December Intentions:

▶︎ PAUSE and Reflect.

Every December I do a whole lot of reflecting. ‘Tis the season for setting new intentions for the year ahead and thefore I think it’s also important to look back at the previous year. This year I can already feel myself resisting this ritual that I usually love.

Yes, it’s the year of the break-up. And the last two months have felt hyper-focused on this part of my life. But I also want to remember that 2019 has been SO much more than just that. Even though I’m feeling hesitant and “meh” about it, I also think I’ll be happy that I did do my annual deep-dive into what worked and didn’t work during the previous year.

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▶︎ Create the FUN.

I’m a “wait for the invitation and then hopefully the fun will come to me” kind of gal. It’s not a quality I’m super proud of in myself. I like to blame the fact that I’m a PROJECTOR according to human design.

At my core, I’m an introvert with a super extroverted career that loves time alone to recharge but is also terrified of loneliness. I’m one big contradiction, woot woot!

Post-break-up I’ve been struggling with finding the delicate balance in the contradictions of what I want. As someone that just waits around for people to invite me to do things, it means that most of the time I’m doing a whole lot of nothing and feeling sorry for myself because of it. I’ve been working on being more vocal about reaching out to friends to see what they are up to (more on that in my next intention.)

I get really nervous to talk about this stuff —  my own loneliness — because it’s something I’ve always been a bit ashamed of in my life. But I imagine I’m not the only one that experiences this.

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▶︎ Continue to be PROACTIVE

I’m working on being really proactive about making plans. It’s fucking hard but I’m still trying. Similar to what I said above I’m constantly reminding myself to be proactive which means reaching out to people to say “hey, let’s go see this movie or do this fun thing.”

This has been an intention of mine for a few months now… and it’s something I have a feeling I’ll always be working on since it just feels like such a big stretch for my personality.

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▶︎ Enjoy the downtime

In past years I’ve over-scheduled myself during the holidays to the point of totally burning myself out. As the token Jewish employee in the fitness industry, I’ve always taken it upon myself to help out as much as I can. Hey, all I got going on Christmas week is Chinese food and a movie.

This year I’ve done a pretty good job of picking up classes where I can, but also not overdoing it. I don’t want to spread myself too thin as I have previously during the holiday season.

It’s important for me to also have some downtime and not overdo it… and to actually ENJOY that downtime.

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Your turn: What intentions are you setting for December??