My Intentions for 2020

Welcome 2020, a new year and a new decade. I seem to have made it a bit of a tradition for my first post of the year to be a reflection of the previous year and sharing my goals for the year ahead. I don’t really like the word resolution, I think it is a word that doesn’t really mean a lot to me. Instead, I’m starting the year with the word intentions. The word intentions means ‘a thing intended, an aim or a plan’. To me this makes more sense than the word resolution which means ‘a firm decision to do something’. I feel the word intention is more positive, realistic and achievable. It allows me to remember that I shouldn’t put too much pressure on myself to achieve a goal. I’ve also been a firm believer that you don’t need a new year to make intentions/goals for the year. Living with intention everyday can open up a world of possibilities if you are open to learning new things or taking the leap into something new.

LIVING WITH INTENTION IN 2020

Over the years, I myself have set myself intentions, whether it is to cut out gluten from my meals for 2 months or to practice yoga instead of a HIIT workout for 1 month. I think it all depends on your state of mind and being mindful about where you are at that time in your life. Setting an intention as your new year goals is a great way to start, as this new beginning is still a good time to sit and reflect on the past year, just for a while, and then write down what you want to achieve, keeping it simple and realistic. The key is not to set yourself too many goals. Really sit and think about what you want to change about your self in life and pick the key attributes that you know you can change and improve your mental health, general health, fitness, relationships, work, life etc. Once you have reflected, write your intentions down, invest in a journal or daily planner and write them in the front so you can easily refer back to them when needed. I have been using a daily planner for years, this helps me take daily reflection on my life, my self and also my eating habits. You will be amazed how quickly you will fall into good habits like daily planning and you will find it a lot easier to take the leap to achieving those intentions in your own time.

REFLECTING BACK ON 2019

Looking back on 2019, I can say it was a roller coaster of a year. I had toxic people in my life, I stopped loving myself and fell back in to that dark pit called depression. My migraines were causing me havoc and my bad days seemed harder to deal with. As I’ve been in this dark place many times before, I knew this time would be easier to get through. I went back to taking Fluoxetine anti-depressants along side the few migraine tables I take daily, I made sure to keep practicing meditation daily and to continue exercising at home after I cancelled my gym membership (my gym had gone massively down hill, equipment, facilities etc) I also told myself that it was OK to have days where I would do less, not see friends/family and that the washing could wait and cuddles with my children and a lay down was OK.

Last year, I wrote a post titled, “What I want to achieve in 2019”. The intentions I set out for myself were:

• Embrace the vegetarian lifestyle and experiment with new recipes and flavours
• Reading regularly
• Keep active
• New Career
• Writing/Daily planning
• Self Love
• Moving forward, positive and happy life

Well, as life does, nothing always goes to plan.

• I’m still a vegetarian and loving it!
• I’m still reading and last year I read 12 books
• Even without the gym, I complete HIIT workouts at home and practice yoga
• A new career was pushed to the side because of other priorities in my life right now
• I still love to write and plan my days as well as reflect on my day in a planner
• I bombed on the self love part but I’m slowly getting back on top of it and being kinder to myself
• Moving forward – even through the hard times, I am moving forward and I feel so much happier already

INTENTIONS FOR 2020

My intentions for 2020 and going forward is to aim and continue to:

• Learn more about mindfulness and practicing more mediation for longer periods of times
• Be more mindful with my eating habits, cutting out more gluten and dairy from my vegetarian diet
• Continue to workout regularly, not to forget that it is a marathon and not a sprint with results
• Indulge in more hobbies like baking, sewing and being creative
• Going into the 7th year of blogging, I want to continue to write and share more about what I love and do
• I want to set myself a reading target of reading 20 books this year
• To enjoy life! I want to embrace more of what and who is around me, I want to try new things and be more daring. I want 2020 to be the year I step out of my comfort zone.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what this year and the new decade brings. Wishing you all a happy and prosperous new year!

What are some of your intentions for 2020? Please share them with me in the comments.

Pinar x