Setting Intentions

If you’re reading this and wondering why this blog wasn’t published on January 1st, it’s because one of my goals for 2020 was to take better care of myself. So far so good ;)

I blogged almost every week last year and that was too much. I also realized that no one except for me cares about the blog schedule that I created and whether or not I stick to it. This realization has been very satisfying and freeing. In this new decade, I will blog whenever I feel like it and I will rest when I need to.

I also set some personal and professional goals but I’m not going to share them. I normally push myself to share more than I want to in hopes that it will benefit a reader but I’ve decided that sharing my goals with the internet is not something that I want to do.

My husband and I have joint short and long term financial goals that we discuss frequently throughout the year, and in 2018 we wrote down our individual professional goals in the notes app of my phone. We sort of forgot about them until I stumbled across the entry around Christmas of that same year and to our surprise we had accomplished every single goal that we set. This process became a new tradition that we just completed for the third time when we were in the car on our way to our NYE getaway. After a year’s time, we normally forget half of what we “wrote” down, so it’s kind of fun to re-read our past goals before setting new ones. I realize forgetting about the goals you set makes it pretty unlikely to achieve them but this process seems to work for us without seeming like a super strict standard to live by.

I also set intentions this year. Working in the wellness industry, I feel like a hypocrite not making my self-care a priority which is how I’ve been living my life over the last two years.

I had an incredible 2019. It was filled with amazing travel, huge life changes that were years in the making, successful seasons, and great friends. But the end of the year was hard. I was struggling. I suffered what I perceived to be three big failures within a span of two weeks and I couldn’t seem to recover. I was in a dark place and I had so many holiday parties that I wanted to skip but showed up to anyways and pretended everything was great.

I’m usually the first one that will tell literally anyone and everyone that I come into contact with to ask for help. I truly believe that asking for help is the gateway to living your best life, but I have a really hard time taking my own advice. I am good at asking for help until I need help on an emotional level. I don’t like the feeling of not having it all together and it stresses me out when I think those that are closest to me are worried about me. I’m working on this, and I did finally open up to my husband and sister about my struggles and then crossed my fingers our short trip up north for NYE would come quick and cure everything.

Thankfully, it did help. Getting away seems to be the only solution for me when things get too hard or overwhelming. I really need to disconnect and find some distance from the daily demands that are mostly self-inflicted.

While having some space on vacation to sit with my thoughts, I've decided that my intentions for this year are to:⁣⁠

1. believe in myself⁣⁠

2. improve how I value myself⁣⁠

3. trust and surrender to the process⁣⁠

Then I took a clearer look at all of my failures in December and with a lot more kindness and compassion, I decided that two of them were some big life lessons that I’m now grateful for and I know that you can’t have success without failure. As long as I’m learning and applying the knowledge to do better next time, then I’m doing it right. Successful people fail all the time, they just keep getting back up and moving forward.

I have a lot I want to accomplish this year and this decade, and I’m feeling excited for all of the new challenges that are headed my way.

I hope whatever emotions and challenges that you experience this year are met with more kindness and compassion for yourself because you’re worth it. Happy New Year and thanks for being here!

If you could use a reset or getaway, we have so many incredible retreats open for this year.

My name is Anna VanAgtmael, and I am a certified yoga instructor with a passion for yoga, travel, and connecting with others.

I believe in trying everything once. My values lie in collecting memories over things. Though we desire adventure and authentic experiences, naturally our fear holds us back.

My ambition is to inspire and encourage you to unmask your fears and jump into the unknown.

Anna VanAgtmael | Yoga Enthusiast | Travel Designer