New Year Wishes Are Boring
As I am scrolling through Social Media, reading everyone’s New Year’s wishes, I notice the different themes. Many people say how bad 2024 was and wish it farewell and never to come back. Some give a summary of the year and what they wish for the new one.
But everyone is adding positive adjectives to the New Year: happy, prosperous, and healthy are the most common ones. I find all these wishes boring. Don’t get me wrong; I want those things, too, but it made me think: How can I make my wishes more interesting? What do I actually want in the new year?
I started by reflecting on 2024. If I had to write something, I would say it was the best year of my life. It began by deciding that my word of the year would be Adventure, which set the theme for the whole of 2024. And what an adventure it was! In every area of my life. Extensive travelling, making great new lifelong friends, new experiences, a new eye-opening Lifestyle, new ideas to expand my business, and new ways to see and express myself. More open, more willing to get out of my comfort zone, willing to ask and get help for my business, going all in everything I did, and enjoying the moment, fearlessly. More present, more accepting, more confident, more peaceful. And most importantly, I started writing regularly for my book, and I saw it start taking shape by the end of the year!
In between all that, I got hospitalised with a serious kidney infection, I sprained my ankle twice in one month and had to walk with crutches for more than two weeks, I lost my passport (and found it again) but got stranded abroad, for a few days, until the matter was resolved. I had an annoying cough during the summer for two weeks. You know, the one that doesn't let you sleep! On top of all that, I went through menopause! And finally, I suffered from a backache that held me at bed rest for almost a month.
Some people might say, “But how can this be your best year ever? Ok, you’ve had some great experiences! But look at all the bad stuff that also happened to you. Surely, you cannot believe that this is your best year ever! How bad did the others suck?” LOL
I say, it’s all a matter of perspective. It’s how you choose to look at everything that happens to you and where you choose to focus on. During every setback or every illness I had last year, I chose to only focus on what was good. Also, to accept the present moment as it was. And find peace within. It is not easy, but I have been practising, and this is probably my proudest accomplishment of the year: that I was ok with whatever was happening to me and around me. And I embraced it.
In the hospital, the nurses told me they had never seen such a happy and positive patient. The day I got out, and still under heavy antibiotics, I went out for dinner with my new friends and had a blast of a time. I celebrated my birthday in a restaurant and then a bar, with my crutches. I even travelled to Bordeaux, still in pain and with one crutch. I had the worst part of my cough attacks when visiting friends in Mallorca. I refused to let menopause rule my life and got all the help I needed to fly through it with the least possible symptoms, and I did. And, I finally decided to listen to my body and rest, when my back pain was so severe I could not sit or stand.
I am not sharing these stories to gloat but to show you that it is all about mindset—how we choose to act or react to everything we are experiencing in the moment. By choosing to accept it, go with the flow, trust the process, be in the moment, and focus on peace within, we find true wisdom, energy, and clarity to do exactly what is needed to get the best outcome. We don’t suffer, and life is so much easier. And the best of it all: other people around you sense this energy, and you all benefit.
I wish 2025 brings you, me, and everybody, whatever we need to become more present in the moment, connect with our true essence, and enjoy the little things in life. I hope it will be one more year of amazing adventures and learning, through which we get to know and express our real selves better, and become wiser, more accepting, more open, and more conscious. And FYI: with it comes actual peace and joy… which includes all other wishes!
