For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning .
T.S Elliot, Little Gidding
Happy New Year! I’ve always been a fan of new beginnings, fresh starts, and blank pages. There is something so enticing about staring at something that hasn’t been touched yet. I will admit, the same new beginning I see filled with excitement is often also filled with anxiety and hesitation. Fear not! This does not mean stop and turn back. Anxiety is not always a crouching lion waiting to attack, sometimes it can be a small bird creeping in the shadows. So, that leads me to ask, what is so anxiety provoking about new years and all these new beginnings?
For me, I look at it as a blank canvas. This can be pressure filled. Making me ask “What will I put on it?” “Will it be good?” “Will it be what I want?” “Will other people like it, accept it, love it?” The majority of these questions can be erased by simply reminding myself that this blank canvas is for me and not anyone else. While this is not always simple, it does relieve a lot of stress that often awaits us in these new beginnings. So, if you are only starting this new beginning for you, what else do you have to consider?
What will I put on it?
The idea of filling an empty canvas can be quite daunting. No limit exists for the possibilities that await. So how do you narrow it down? I find it helpful to look back on what I did last. It can be easier to decide what to paint after I have looked at what I’ve painted before. Perhaps I want to paint something similar or maybe completely different. Regardless, looking back helps me narrow down the possibilities, and it might inspire or remind me of something I wanted to paint previously.
Therefore, I urge you to reflect on the past year. What things took place that were hard or challenging? Where did you grow and where did you struggle? This may help you narrow down what you want your new beginning to look like. At the start of new beginnings, there are countless opportunities that can be hard to narrow down. Checking in with yourself to identify what areas you find more important, can help you plan ahead to keep those things at the forefront.
Will it be good?
This questions pops into my head whenever I’m creating something new. Even with this post. It adds another layer of unnecessary stress. Do you remember being a kid and making things just for the sake of making things. I was the kid who would make mud pies in the muddy puddles after it rained. Those definitely were not good, but I never once regretted making them. So I urge you to find that kid-like passion again. Not all things have to be good. We can enjoy an activity just because it’s fun, and that makes it good in my books.
Will it be what I want?
This taunting question leads me into storming clouds of doubt. If I make this painting, there is no guarantee it will turn out to be what I imagine in my head. Unfortunately, this is part of the process. We can make things all day long, and it may never turn out exactly as we imagine. On occasion it will, but we need to learn to be okay with the results regardless of the picture at the beginning. This is part of being flexible.
I can no longer count on my fingers the amount of times I walked into a restaurants, finished a book, started a new job, and it was nothing like I imagined it to be. This does not make the results bad, sometimes it can make it better, and sometimes it has no impact on the experience as a whole. Learning to accept the outcomes is hard to do, but if we can practice being flexible and willing, our overall experience may not have to be as stressful as they once were.
Will other people like it, accept it, love it?
At the end of the day, everyone has their opinions. Sadly, those opinions can be hurtful. So this year, these new beginnings, I hope you surround yourself with people who will accept things as they are, who will accept you as you are. For those who don’t, I hope your own acceptance of the outcomes outweighs any negativity thrown your way. At the end of the year, it will be you, not the people you surround yourself with, looking back at your accomplishments with awe and wonder of all you’ve overcome.
How to write goals for your new beginnings
After we have determined what will be put on the canvas, how can we ensure it stays put and comes to completion? This question asks me to consider what my goal is and what I am putting on my canvas. When I am at work, we look at SMART goals. SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-sensitive. Any psychologist or mental health specialist will tell you these are the best ways to lay-out your goals. A quick google search will bring you to countless worksheets that walk you through each section of SMART.
Here at Umbra Ex Libris we have formulated our own SMART goal for the year. We started with a broad goals and worked our way down. Our goal for the year was “write more.” Not very specific. Write more does not give us a definitive clue to what we are trying to achieve. Yes, we want to write more, but does that mean we will write more blog posts, will we write more weekly, will we write more monthly. We needed to make it more specific. Our final start to our SMART goal was to increase our weekly blog post output. Write more on a weekly output basis.
Next, we move to measurable. This is where you give the goal something to be tracked on. If we say we want to increase our weekly blog post output, we need to include some way to measure it. We ended up saying we would like to increase our weekly blog post output from one time a week to two times a week. This measurement does not have to be a big jump. In fact, sometimes it is better to start small and adjust as you go.
Attainable it always a more tricky one. This goes back to remembering who is in charge here. Only one person can determine if the goal is attainable, so this is where you put how it will be attainable. For us, we have each other to ensure our goals are met, accountability falls into our attainability. If we agree to keep checking in on our productivity and being open to feedback, we will have an attainable goal being met each week.
For a goal to be relevant we need to identify why it is important to us. This can be tricky, but it just requires us to go back to if it will be what we want. If it is something we want, it will likely be important to us, and therefore, it is relevant to our goal. For Umbra Ex Libris, our goal is relevant to us because it is important to us that we make content on a more regular basis. With more regular content output, we will be more able to engage with our readers, like you!
Lastly, we just want to put a timestamp on it. A date by which we want this goal to be achieved. Maybe you want to test out your goal, so your time limit is two weeks. Or maybe, you are waiting to see results so you want to do it for two months. For Umbra Ex Libris, we are aiming to create a habit, so we are holding our goal to the habit forming baseline of 66 days, with today being day one.
It sounds unnatural. I will admit it feels clunky and might not have the aesthetic feel of a vision board or motivational quotes. But, I urge you to push through, start small, and think SMART. Remember to be patient with yourself, check-in with yourself and others, and don’t be afraid to start new.
Thank you for joining us as we embark on our next journey. This year with Umbra Ex Libris we have many plans, and we hope you enjoy them as they unfold. Feel free to drop any goals you have this year or things you are looking forward to this year. We love hearing from you and wish you the best on all your new beginnings!
And as always, happy reading!
I am a big proponent of SMART goals! I try to use them with work stuff to help me focus in on what im actually trying to do.
Still working on forming personal goals for the year so my short term goal is to come up with 2 long term goals by the 15th, haha!
Yes! SMART goals for the win!
That’s a great short term goal, can’t wait to hear what the long terms end up being!