Are you feeling you’re ready to bid 2023 goodbye and start fresh with hope of a better year in 2024? If so, you’ll want to ask yourself, what are you willing to do differently to make it better?
Some People Make New Year’s Resolutions
But resolutions are not always a good plan. Only 9% of people keep their resolutions. Sometimes setting a big goal can be counterproductive because it simply seems like too much of a commitment and impossible to achieve. And you must be mentally ready for change so you’re able to stay motivated long enough to reach your goal.
We all know that nothing changes until something changes. So, if goal setting isn’t your thing, maybe setting a yearly intention is a better place for you to start.
Resolution vs Intention
An intention is one or two words that serve as your mantra or theme for the year. It’s a great way to keep you moving in the right direction without making it so black and white.
A good way to set your intention is to think of a noun or verb that defines how you want to live your upcoming year and creates a benchmark for your success. It’s your internal compass that keeps you heading in the right direction as you evaluate opportunities, make decisions, and take action.
Then, as you go throughout the year, you can check to see how well your decisions and actions are supporting your intention and make any adjustments so you can remain true to your year’s purpose. Living your intention is the easiest way to always find your true north.
A Year of Release
In 2023 my word for the year was RELEASE. I set this as my intention because there were some things I needed to let go of so I could make room for someone else. There were also work things I didn’t want to face up to and family issues I was letting frustrate me. I truly needed to embrace the concept of changing what I can and releasing the things I had no control over.
I knew I was struggling with this and making it my intention kept me focused on it throughout the entire year. Was I successful? Yes, I was some. But perfection is overrated, and I’m happy with my results and feel comfortable enough to choose something new for this year.
My Word for 2024 Is ALLOW
I’m setting ALLOW as my intention because I finally understand how sometimes you need to slow down to speed up and allow things to flow. I’m beginning to understand that you can’t rush the timing of the universe, and things will come to you if you open your heart and allow them in. This includes love. I’m ready to find someone special and I’m allowing love to flow into my life in 2024.
Other Possible Words
Your word is personal to you and can be anything you want it to be. What’s important is that you take some time to reflect on what will make this year better for you than the last. If you struggle to believe love is possible for you, maybe your word for the year could be LOVEABLE.
If fear is stopping you from dating, maybe you would pick FIERCE. Maybe you feel like you want to date, but you don’t know how, then you might want to choose something like KNOWLEDGE. One good method of picking the right word for you is to look at what you struggled with in the past and reframe it to a positive.
You can call your word your intention, theme, mantra – whatever feels comfortable for you. And don’t worry what anyone else might think. I share my word with friends. Some of them get it, and some of them don’t, but that’s not what matters. What matters is that I’ve made a commitment to grow in one specific area of my life throughout the new year. And that’s what counts.
After you decide on your word, write it out by hand on sticky notes and place them where you’ll see them on a regular basis. This will serve as a visual reminder for your brain to stay on course. You may want to move them around the house and rewrite them from time to time to keep your eye seeing them, and your brain receiving them. You don’t want your words to become so expected that they get ignored.
I Am an Intention Type of Person
I like having an intention for the year, and I think you will too. It makes me feel like, even at this stage of life, I am growing in the right direction. I hope you’ll take a moment and think about what changes you can make that will truly move the needle and make it easier for you to attract high-quality love into your life. Finding love is a journey and experiencing personal growth along the way makes it more fulfilling.
If you’re tired of struggling to date with clarity and confidence, check out The Perfect Dating Guide for Women over 50. It guides you through all the stages of dating and offers real-life examples of how coaching can improve how and who you date.
Let’s Have a Conversation:
What changes can you make to help you attract love in the new year? What’s your biggest dating struggle to overcome?
