The Avian Angle

Pretty much every year I commit to new years resolutions, and 2020 was just like every other year. I committed. I wrote down the things I wanted to stick to, I even wrote a blog post about it. For a quick recap, my 2020 guiding principles and goals are below.

Since 2020 has been such a different year, I felt it was a good time as any to be able to hit a refresh on this year’s goals and to re-envision what I am prioritizing most these days. To do this, I decided to create a vision board one evening and it was such a relaxing way for me to centralized around the phrases and photos that I genuinely gravitated to. (Below is a picture of said vision board). Rather than dive into each icon on my board, I wanted to focus on one of the first phrases I saw and cut out…”a year of identity”. Its funny how the world works in mysterious ways right?

I really felt that this was the start of a good vision board and refresh because that phrase really is how I have envisioned this year. I started the year with a trip to my beloved city, Paris, and family reunion in Switzerland. It was even more of an amazing trip because I got to bring my husband there for the first time. My French/Swiss heritage is such a part of me – my identity – most people that know me, know I am that francophile friend. In the early months of the year, we found out that we were pregnant with our first daughter (I wrote about it in a blog post here and again here)- again such a huge change in our identity as just a married couple to becoming parents (yikes, were we even ready for that?). Then COVID happened…and I think we all went through a somewhat identity crisis with being isolated from our family and friends for months on end. In the middle of pandemic, I had the opportunity to make a move and change jobs to what I have always considered my dream job. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity and it has been so wonderful and worth pursuing – again a big part of my personal investment in my career identity.

While this year has certainly brought in a lot of changes for us all, I have to reflect on the fact that this year has also provided me with so much fulfillment when it comes to my individuality, professional development, and our identity in becoming parents – in particular, me becoming a mom. As someone who is a type A planner, this year has been nothing short of unexpected growth. But I find the more I prepare rather than plan, the more I am able to ‘go with the flow’ and fall into my own identity with every season of change. I have intentionally left spaces on my vision board for just that – filling them in with the delightfully unexpected. From here, I will finish out 2020 looking to this vision board for the daily inspiration that fills my soul.

2020 New Year Guiding Principles:

1. Intentional

2. Quality

3. Creative

2020 New Year Goals:

1. Health: focus on moving every day. Workout 2 to 3 times per week. Feel better about my body and health.

2. Read: make time to read 1 book per month.

3. Write: blog 2 to 3 times per month.

4. Organization: clean out my entire gmail, google drive and accounts by the end of the year.

5. Create: develop inventory for Etsy Shop and collaborate with 5 partners over the year.

6. Home Renovation: ensure our entire house is cleaned up and organized by the end of the year. Complete at least 7 of the 10 projects on my list (some are not essential projects but rather ones that would be extra).