A Fresh Start Into 2018

New year, new me. That’s how the saying goes, isn’t it? I’ve always been a firm believer of setting intentions with the turn of the year. When I was in my young teens I would write myself a letter for the year and then seal it up at New Years, only to be opened again a year later. I’m not quite as methodological these days with my intentions, but I do take the turn of the year as an opportunity, more than anything else – to look backwards and reflect, as it inspires me to look forwards thoughtfully and purposefully.  

This year I will focus just on a few big ticket intentions, whilst putting emphasis on a fresh start to the year – something I haven’t really done in the past. I’m sharing a few simple changes that I’m putting into place at the turn of this year, in order to help myself come out of this recent holiday fog (which is still lingering) and start this year on the right foot.

Home

-       Take down the Christmas décor, and whilst I’m at it, remove any unnecessary décor pieces – minimize and simplify.

-       Get your car cleaned. I actually do this biweekly, if not weekly, because it gives me such a feeling of content.

-       Buy new bath towels. It has been on my list for a while and what better time than now.

-       Flip your bed mattress. We get told this is a ‘must do’ when we buy that new bed but do any of us actually do this? We are finally making a point of flipping that heavy thing!

-       Clean all your make up brushes. Do it!

-       Go through your closet and get rid of any clothes you haven’t worn this past year. Only exception for me would be if I’ve been too preggers in the year to wear certain things I love or certain specialty dresses that I simply haven’t had an occasion to wear in the year. Otherwise, be ruthless. You won’t even remember what you’ve given away once tomorrow comes.

-       Go through your pantry and get rid of any old food.

-       Buy yourself some fresh flowers for the house. I bought myself a bunch of apricot roses today.

 Health

-       Make yourself an appointment with the gyn, the dentist and the skin cancer clinic, three routine check-ups I do every year. Also make an appointment for hubs for the two latter.

-       Check up on any vaccine requirements and note down in your agenda when the kiddies, hubby and yourself need to get immunized against what.

Office/Admin

-       Work through your inbox and reply to any outstanding emails. File away all others that don’t require an action. Try to get your inbox down to three emails. Believe me, you will feel so good after this one!

-       Organize files and folders on your desktop. Move certain things into your Dropbox or the cloud so that you have more space on your desktop.

-       Back up all your photos from the year, if you haven’t done so.

-       Put together a family photo album from the previous year. Think about all the amazing memories you’ve created in 2017 - it is worth the effort! Check out my blog post on this.

You

-       Give your skin a fresh start! I’ve recently started using the skin care products from Skin Creamery and I am in love. Luxurious natural skin care. Produced locally, with love. Safe to use throughout pregnancy and breastfeeding. It smells absolutely delicious and leaves your skin feeling so pampered. I am currently using their Everyday Cream (a beautifully rich cream but leaves you skin feeling light once applied) and their Oil Milk Cleanser (doesn’t foam but once you are used to this after a few days, you’ll love it!). Formulated with all organic ingredients – what is there not to love? My commitment this year is to switch to all natural products for soaps and creams that I buy for myself and my family and I couldn’t be happier with my choice in skin care from Skin Creamery. Check out their beautiful range here!

-       Buy some new underwear. I used to never need a prompt for this one but since becoming a Mama, I must admit that buying underwear for myself has very quickly slipped down on my priority list. I’m putting it back up there!

-       Set yourself a few key intentions for the year…

My Intentions for 2018

-       Business - Bring to market my first Stellarize product.

-       Dare to Dream - Run the Two Oceans Ultra Marathon (a 56kms race!). It is taking place in late March. Wish me luck.

-       Love - A monthly Date Night with my wonderful husband.

-       Family - Make another baby!!!

-       Health - Continue our vegan journey. As long as we find joy in it all and continue feeling such positive results (body, mind, soul), I am continuing to invest time, efforts and joy into this newly discovered passion of ours. I also want to become more conscious in everyday living (ie. Buy more all natural products - like my newly found skin care regime from Skin Creamery).

-       Personal Development – I would love to set time aside to work on my photography and graphic design interests as well as harness my Spanish or my French. Otherwise, I just want to finish a book. I easily have 3-4 books on my bedside table, all of which I have started but cannot seem to take the time to actually read enough so that I can finish any of them!

I hope some of these simple actions help give you a fresh start to yet another epic year ahead. What are some of your Intentions?

Much love,
Stella x