Happy new year, my friends. As I write this post, snow is falling outside my window. NYC is being thoroughly blanketed in fluffy white. My IG stories are filled with delighted squeals and fingers drawing hearts on frosty windows. For a second, everything feels calm.

More often than not, I approach life with what some might even consider near-delusional optimism, but for the past two years, that point of view was considerably more difficult to muster. Like many of us, I’ve had 500+ days of doom-and-gloom news and constant anxiety—ample opportunity to test out how fear and pessimism shape my world. And I can confidently say I’m more inclined to see the bright side.

As I sat down to consider my new year’s resolutions for 2022, one message came through loud and clear: I’m not about to live through “2020 Part Three”. 2022 has its own kind of sparkle, its own promise of newness and redemption. I’m not exactly sure how, but that’s fine. It’s just something I’ve decided.

With that said, here are my goals, resolutions, aspirations… whatever you’d like to call them. I’m writing them here because documenting is a natural part of my life, but also because it helps create a bit of accountability. And maybe they’ll inspire you to write your own!

In 2022…

✨ I’ll step into my teacher role more fully. I’m so excited to get back into mentoring in 2022. Back in summer~fall 2020, I launched my first-ever online course as a beta. It was such a fulfilling experience and clarified a new path in my career that I hadn’t known was such a perfect fit until I tried it.

I was connected to so many writers and got to play a tiny part in their career expansion. I’m currently working on relaunching the course to be more streamlined and actionable.

 

✨ I’ll consciously curate my space. Decluttering has been a major theme in my life over the past few years, but since we moved in the summer of 2020, I’ve initiated an epic amount of progress. It’s been refreshing paring down my physical belongings.

More room to relax and unwind, create (it’s tough to get motivated or inspired in a mess), and simply exist is a priority now. I’ll continue this trend in the new year while being more strict about what comes into my living space.

 

✨ I’ll be more compassionate and kind. There’s no doubt that good energy breeds more good energy—and the opposite is also true. Kindness as a default is so important, but it’s easy to forget when met with stressful situations or petty, toxic behavior.

We just don’t know what other folks are going through in life that might inspire them to act a certain way, so reacting in a dismissive or cruel way is never warranted. I want to bring more focus to reacting with kindness, no matter what.

In the spirit of honesty, my default reactions are often that of an impatient alpha, wanting to squash behavior I dislike and put others in their place, but the older I get, the more I see how unproductive and immature this is.

 

✨ I’ll push myself to work harder. Recently I commented to my best friend that “not trying as hard as I could” when it comes to my own endeavors—and thus never seeing my full potential—has been a recurring curse in my life.

And I chose the word curse because it really feels like one.

After many years of wondering why I self-sabotage my own creative pursuits, I dug into studies on resistance and the archaic part of the brain that is triggered when we are too close to the edge of our comfort zone. Reading The War of Art (and other books by the same author) helped me grasp why this occurs.

But it’s still a constant challenge to push harder and deliver exceptional work when my impulse is to do “just enough”.

 

✨ I’ll live in integrity. There are endless running jokes among millennials that allude to the tragic nature of adult friendships. IE: Adult friendships are all about canceling and rescheduling plans until you die. Memes about hoping plans fall apart are a little too relatable.

Are overwhelm and burnout to blame? Are we all just exhausted? Or do we honestly dislike connecting with others in real-time? Is the pressure too much? The culture of rescheduling, ghosting, and canceling plans last minute has left such a bad taste in my mouth.

Living with integrity means doing what you said you were going to do, no matter what you’re feeling. It’s a sure-fire way to only make plans you actually want to commit to in the first place. This also means showing up for my own ambitions per my commitments to myself.

 

✨ I’ll be more particular and mindful. This goes back to curating, but not just my space. I want to be more particular with everything in life. My tendency is to rush through decisions—a trick for avoiding classic Libra indecision, which bubbles up if I think about things for too long.

I’d like to spend more time on decisions to feel confident about my movements. I want to examine areas where my daily habits, interactions, purchases (etc) are careless or could be tweaked to be more fulfilling and thoughtful.

I want my routines to reflect the kind of future I want (self-care, fitness, workdays, social, creative undertakings). I want to do business with companies I believe in. I want to ensure, to the best of my ability, that I’m creating positive ripples in the universe more often than not.

 

✨ I’ll create from a truer place. *Elongated sigh* I think Pinterest has ruined me a bit, and I’m tired of how readily I can access pristine, out-of-reach aesthetic perfection at a moment’s notice. I no longer wish to hoard inspiration or try to manifest my “dream life” by scrolling through any social platform. Visuals are important when you’re a visual person (and I am) but taking action to create your actual life is far more important.

Over the years, I’ve developed a time-consuming habit of screengrabbing or saving imagery that inspires me, but then I end up with hundreds of images of someone else’s life (or art) that I need to manage. I’d rather decorate my tables, do my DIY projects, and muster up projects from whatever muse I’m being visited by that day.

From now on, when I see an inspiring image, I’ll simply appreciate it and move on.

 

✨ I’ll take excellent care of myself. I don’t treat myself as nicely as I could. I think many of us are guilty of putting ourselves last, aren’t we? Life is so full of things that demand immediate attention (or so we’ve decided) that we can run on empty for 16 hours before realizing we desperately need some self-love, even if it’s just a home-cooked meal or some time spent reflecting.

But because I’ve experimented with self-care more thoroughly than ever in 2021, I’ve unearthed a real love for just… being with me. I want to keep this trend going. I really love indulging in routines in the morning and evening (skincare, dry brushing, journaling, vitamins, etc).

It helps me mindfully begin and end the day—and, as you’ll read in a few seconds, that has always been a challenge for me.

 

✨ I’ll protect my somewhat newly discovered (and very precious) sleep schedule. For the first time in my life, I have a healthy sleep schedule. When I tell you I’ve spent most of my life as a “night owl”, I don’t mean I preferred to stay up late. It’s been mission impossible for me to keep a normal schedule since I was a young teenager.

Over the years, the lack of sleep has taken its toll (fried nerves, vision issues, and plenty more), but these days I’m sleeping 8-9 hours adhering to my S.O.’s schedule. It is delicious to sleep! I’ve discovered a new side of myself. Better late than never?

 

✨ I’ll make peace with anxiety. One of the most powerful lessons I have learned about managing my mental wellness is to let come what may. Fighting anxiety (even the phrase makes me cringe) is probably the most counterproductive way to handle this mysterious, irritating force, which can turn life upside down within seconds.

Like virtually everyone else, I have general anxiety. But I also have an acute form of anxiety called “panic disorder”. It triggers disruptive episodes of panic that create intense physical and emotional symptoms. This can make doing very basic things feel, at least temporarily, completely impossible. I’ve been dealing with this since I was a teenager (and my mom dealt with it too) so I’ve done my share of reading, experimenting with panic attack management, et al. The lesson I keep coming back to?

When you make space for anxiety instead of resisting it, you can actually make peace with it, allowing it to temporarily dissolve… like a friendly ghost who just wanted company.

 

✨ I’ll be more generous. Whenever I benefit, others will too. Whether it’s free training for freelancers, helping others grow their network, or contributing to important initiatives, I will endeavor to pay all goodness forward.

If you’re in the self-development space, “abundance mindset” might be a buzz phrase that’s lost some meaning after hearing it over and over, but it’s crucial. The undisputed knowledge that there is always more than enough (success, money, resources, joy, etc) is a self-fulfilling prophecy and can help you generate positive outcomes for yourself and others.

Also! Someone else’s success doesn’t deplete your own chances of achieving great things. In fact, each time someone is “successful” it creates more potential for abundance. This is a universal rule I’d like to keep in mind at all times.

 

✨ I’ll create my own internal weather despite the weather outside. If you’ve watched any of my vlogs in 2021, you probably heard me talking about emotional and mental “centering” as a coping mechanism for anxiety.

The idea that you can return to a carefully crafted safe internal state (your center) despite what is happening around you has been extremely freeing. Last year, it helped me turn a few days into productive ones—where in the past they may well have been lost to the abyss of anxiety. I’ll continue to explore that.

 

✨ I’ll wish people well and focus on my own life. No drama, no gossip, no negativity. No anonymous lurking over comment fights at 2am, contributing to he-said, she-said scenarios, or doom scrolling into my next panic attack. I’m a Libra with a very active inner child, so it’s extra-important to steer clear of mental toxins disguised as entertainment. I want to find compassionate ways to remove myself from negative situations, wish others the best from an honest and heartfelt place, and then shift my focus back to my own life.

 

✨ I’ll plant manifestation seeds—and resist the temptation to dig them up early. I was going to link to a video here explaining the process of writing down and “planting” a manifestation seed (basically putting it in a drawer or box or somewhere else you won’t be tempted to “dig it up” early) but it was removed from YouTube.

Alas! It’s I’m a firm believer in quantum energy and our ability to manipulate it if we can get out of our own way. I’ve been studying this for years and it has been life-changing, both in my ability to influence my state of happiness and in understanding (a tiny slice) of how the universe works.

One of the best books I’ve come across is A Happy Pocket Full of Money: Infinite Wealth and Abundance in the Here and Now. Bonus: It’s finally an audiobook! With more tools than ever to study and implement quantum manifestation, who knows what kind of life-changing magic we might create…

 

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Well, there you have it! If you actually read through these goals, you deserve a cup of tea and a smooth playlist to sip to.

Of course, I have other more tangible goals like paying down debt, ramping up investments, planning my dream wedding, and registering my business! But the items above are related to my values and my personal “center”, which I think will enable me to tackle the rest of my goals with more ease. I’m basically attempting to craft a north star to follow despite anything else that unfolds this year.

What are some of your resolutions, goals, or aspirations this year? Perhaps you’ve created some general guidelines for life? I’d love to hear about them! Share below or come hang out with me on IG.

Here’s to a magical year ahead.

P.S. Feeling ~blah~ this week? Get the Hey Mishka Coffee Break.  It’s my semi-weekly newsletter curated to perk you up with good news, inspiration, and bright ideas: heymishkanewsletter.com

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