2022 -BE-ing in December – Taking time to Be & Reflect

It is December and I’ve managed to live and post about my word ‘BE’ for each of the twelve months. To me that is an achievement and I want to thank my co-hosts Debbie from Deb’s World, Jo from And Anyways and Donna from Retirement Reflections for keeping me accountable with our Word of the Year monthly link up.

Taking time to Be & Reflect on 2022

Usually, I use New Year’s Eve to reflect on the past year and plan for the year to come. However, as I needed to write my wrap up post for #WOTY I thought I would start my reflection earlier. I also attended the Strong Healthy Women Christmas Party and one of the activities was to reflect and write down our standout moments for 2022.

We tend to become so busy in life that we forget to just stop, BE in the moment and actually reflect on life. Where we have been, where we want to be. In my last post for the #WOTY link up I’d like to provide some guiding questions as a reflection activity for you to try.

A good way to reflect on the year is to look back at each month and see what happened. I usually write in my diary daily and with my #WOTY posts it has been a good way to journal my 2022.

I also needed to reflect on how my Christmas Day did not turn out the way I had anticipated. In my post Why I’m grateful despite COVID being the Grinch of our Christmas I reflected on how I turned disappointment into gratitude despite feeling negative.

Why take time to reflect?

• Reflecting gives you the opportunity to remind yourself of events that happened during the year – there will be highs and lows and sometimes we just forget.
• Reflecting helps us to identify what we achieved and what successes we had. It helps us to determine what we enjoyed and found happiness doing.
• Reflecting will help us identify what ‘robbed us of joy’. It gives us the opportunity to prioritise what is important to us and what we can let go of in the coming year. That could include activities, habits or even people who are pulling us down rather than being our cheerleaders.
• Reflecting reminds us of where our limiting beliefs held us back and robbed us of self-confidence and experiences in life.
• Reflecting is an opportunity to focus on gratitude for the good things in life and also for the learnings from the not so good things.

Questions to ponder during your Annual Reflection

Here are some suggested questions but you may come up with more of your own. Writing them down is an excellent way to really focus on each question and answer.

• What was an occuring theme throughout 2022 in my life?
• What were my Standout Moments for 2022?
• What robbed me of joy?
• What did I learn in 2022?
• How healthy was I in 2022?
• How often did I make time for myself and self-care?
• How often did I say ‘I love you’ to family and friends?
• How often did I have a social media free day?
• Did I do something to inspire others?
• Who inspired me?

Word of the Year 2022 – BE

BE STRONG BE FEARLESS BE BEAUTIFUL and most of all BE YOU!

As I mentioned in my opening paragraph, I have managed to live my #WOTY and document it each month. So here is a summary of my posts:

January – BE-ing in January was about sharing my WOTY, BE-ing healthy, BE-ing Social, BE-ing a Nan and BE-ing Bold and Beautiful
February – BE-ing in February was about BE-ing healthy, BE-ing in Love, BE-ing, BE-ing a Golden Boldie
March – BE-ing in March was about BE-ing Grateful, BE-ing Proactive, BE-ing Healthy, BE-ing Happy and BE-ing a Limbdweller or a Trunk Dweller.
April – BE-ing in April was about Coping with the Roller Coaster Ride of Life when you just want to get off
May – BE-ing in May was about Finding Harmony between BE-ing and DO-ing
June – BE-ing in June was about BE-ing Aware of Mental Health & Wellbeing
July – BE-ing in July was about 6 lessons learned BE-ing Busy (in a good way)
August – BE-ing in August was about Life Changes and another Year around the Sun
September – BE-ing in September was about BE-ing back on track with a healthy lifestyle
October – BE-ing in October was about BE-ing in Tasmania
November – BE-ing in November was about Renos, Family, Flexibility and more
December – BE-ing in December was about Taking Time to BE and Reflect on 2022

Will I have a Word of the Year for 2023? I’m not sure yet but whether I do or not, I want to be a Woman Living Well After 50 (and in my case after 65!).

This is the last #WOTY link up and thank you so much for joining us. We have a new look link up for 2023 which will provide more scope for those of you who don’t choose a #WOTY. See details below after the WOTY link up button.

In closing, I wish you and your family happiness and health for the Festive Season and 2023. I love this poem from Donna Ashworth which I will leave you with to ponder……

Why do we start a new year, with promises to improve?
Who began this tradition of never-ending pressure?
I say, the end of a year, should be filled with congratulation, for all we survived.
And I say a new year should start with promises to be kinder to ourselves, to understand better just how much we bear, as humans on this exhausting treadmill of life.

And if we are to promise more, let’s pledge to rest, before our bodies force us.
Let’s pledge to stop, and drink in life as it happens.
Let’s pledge to strip away a layer of perfection to reveal the flawed and wondrous humanity we truly are inside.

Why start another year, gifted to us on this earth, with demands on our already over-strained humanity.
When we could be learning to accept, that we were always supposed to be imperfect.
And that is where the beauty lives, actually.
And if we can only find that beauty, we would also find peace.

I wish you peace in 2023.
Everything else is all just a part of it.
Let it be so.

Donna Ashworth

REMINDER NEW LINK UP COMING IN 2023

You can find the details about the new Monthly Link Up in 2023 ‘What’s Been On Your Calendar?’ HERE and I hope to see you there in January.
Share your recent highs, lows, activities, hobbies, travel, resolutions, challenges, WOTYs, whatever you’ve been up too and feel free to share some photos as well!
Last Thursday, 2 pm (PST)
Last Friday, 8 am (AEST)
Links will remain open for seven days.

What’s Been On Your Calendar? Dates for the Diary

Beginning January 2023. Last Thursday, 2 pm (PST)/Last Friday, 8 am (AEST).

• January 26/27,
• February 23/24,
• March 30/31,
• April 27/28,
• May 25/26,
• June 29/30,
• July 27/28,
• Aug31/Sept 1*,
• Sept. 28/29,
• Oct 26/27,
• Nov. 30/Dec 1*,
• Dec.28/29.
• (The August and November Linkups will take place on the 1st of the following month for the Southern Hemisphere).

We hope to see you there!