Happy New Year! I hope your 2022 is off to a great start, and you’re intentionally setting some healthy, attainable goals for yourself. A colleague and I have started an annual retreat each December where we set goals for the new year and catch up on all the boring paperwork parts of our job that we’ve put off. One of my goals for this year is to be more consistent with my blogging. I really enjoy writing and sharing information, but I struggle with holding myself accountable. A few years ago, I was doing some work with another therapist on a side project, and we held each other accountable for writing blogs. I ended up loving the writing process, even though all throughout school, I groaned every time a writing assignment was announced. But, I’m recommitting to blogging in an effort to share parenting and mental health knowledge and ideas with you. Here are some things I’m planning to do to keep myself accountable to this goal:
Set my goal to be reasonable and attainable. Sharing one blog post per month feels manageable for me.
Dedicate time for blogging and book it on my calendar. I find that if I put things on my calendar, they are much more likely to get completed.
Write in a fun place and maybe employ some caffeine. While I do enjoy writing, I find it hard to get done sitting at home. I’m going to encourage myself to go to a coffee shop to get my writing done. For some reason, I find I am much more focused when I’m at a coffee shop or out in the sun.
Work ahead and plan. I wrote this blog post in December of 2021, and I’m planning to stay a month ahead on my blogs. I also have a running list of topics I think will be interesting and helpful. If you’ve got a topic you’d like me to cover, please shoot me a message!
Maybe some of these strategies will be helpful as you and your family set goals for the new year!
Another change I’m making this year is that I’m shifting my whole practice to be virtual starting in February. There are a couple of reasons for this shift. First, I have been increasing my online work over the past couple of years, and the back and forth and scheduling challenges have been causing me more and more stress. So part of this shift is an effort to reduce my stress, which in turn, will hopefully help me to be a more present and less stressed therapist, coach, and supervisor. I also think I will be able to see more clients this way, and I know there has been an increased need for mental health and parenting support over the past couple of years.
The second reason is a bit more personal. I LOVE to travel. It provides me an outlet to explore new places, try new things, and push myself in ways I don’t when I’m home. Obviously over the last couple of years, travel has changed and there’s been somewhat of a hole left in my soul. I also recently lost my furry companion of 18 years (RIP Dave the Cat), so I have a lot less guilt about leaving home for long periods of time. While I’d rather still have Dave around, it seems like the right time to make the shift and spend more time doing what makes my heart happy.
Here’s to new goals and new adventures in 2022!
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