Intentions Not Resolutions for 2021

Oh hello 2021! Aren’t we all to happy to see you… waiting for you to arrive has kinda been like waiting in line for the loo when you’re desperate to go. Your arrival on the calendar queue couldn’t quite come fast enough. Congratulations to everyone who made it through the homeschooling, sourdough baking, and Zoom meetings with no pants on year that was 2020.

At the start of 2020 I was all bright eyed and bushy tailed full of expectations of what the year would bring. Looking back on that now it all seems a little idiotic.

I didn’t know that I needed to prepare my former self for shortages of toilet paper or home alone bakathons. The only good news out of lockdown is I’ve finally hit my goal weight-gain target that I’ve been working on for a few years.

The bad news is my last year’s resolutions were definitely a flop. So this year I’m saying hell no to resolutions and instead starting the year with a few quiet intentions that I can keep whether I’m stuck inside or in my regular routine.

Intentions for 2021

1. It’s time to make bed a device free zone. Anyone else guilty of Netflix in bed? It feels so good at the time, but it’s been awful for my sleep. From now on my first simple intention is that the bed will be a laptop free and relatively phone free zone. The only time I should be on my phone is setting an alarm or listening to a sleep story. Why is this intention important for me? Well let’s just say I’m a zombie dragon when I don’t get enough sleep which leads me to being in an over emotional state and that creates a bad gut day. It’s a lose-lose situation. So the first step to getting better sleep is removing the distractions from the bed and retraining my brain that bed equals sleep.

2. Eat more veggies. Okay so this one kinds sounds like a regular New Year’s resolution. But I’m pretty good at getting my five plus a day. So this is more about figuring out fun ways I can help you make veggies super tasty so you want to eat them… instead of them being the sad things you push around your plate after you eat all the good bits.

3. Learn to breathe (aka take ‘me’ time). I’m horrific at taking ‘me’ time. I’m always like I should finish that recipe, write that blog, answer those emails, clean [insert room of the house], check on Mum, do something with my fiancé. I’m also absolutely brilliant at holding my breath while I do all of those tasks. If there was an award for that I’d get it. During all of this busyness I fail to nurture me. So this year my intention is to make a bit more space to look after myself. I’m not sure what this looks like yet (I keep thinking it’s yoga but I do three days and then lose motivation)… so I’ll let you know in my Instagram stories over the year what’s working for me.

4. Accept that I am me. I’ve now officially been chronically unwell for more than half my life – crazy right? When I look back at my 14 year old self who was too sick to go to school – I want to sit her down and tell her that it’s okay. It’s okay that you feel like shit now, and that you’re lonely, and that you feel like no one will ever understand you. It’s okay because one day you’ll find a community of people who get what it’s like living with chronic illness. One day you’ll get to a place where you have lots of ways to manage your symptoms. And that one day you’ll build a somewhat quirky life that fits around  your medical needs. It won’t be easy and it’s something that you have to work on every single day. But one day you’ll be able to accept that all the medical diagnoses, all the heartache, all the challenges were meant to happen because they have crafted who you are today. And even though you aren’t perfect and your body doesn’t work how you thought it would – you are exactly the human you are meant to be.

I’m fully aware that some of these intentions might not resonate with you. It’s up to you to create your own intentions. What I want to know, is do you have an intention for 2021? Let me know in the comments below.

Image credit: Alana Scott – A Little Bit Yummy