Let IT go • INNER Peace & Equanimity
2022 is going to be all about letting go with the intention of attaining more inner peace and equanimity. I’ll be working on gently releasing my physical, emotional, and mental attachments. Here’s a bit more about what I mean:
Physical attachments. Even though I’ve made a lot of progress with decluttering and letting go of material possessions, I still hold onto things for both sentimental and “just in case” reasons. I’ll be working on this in 2022 — in particular, I have my sights set on letting go of the clothing I used to wear to the office when I was working full-time.
Emotional attachments. The 10-day silent meditation course showed me that all emotions are indeed transitory, but part of me still clings to positive emotions and wants to avoid negative ones. I’m going to continue working on my understanding of impermanence by feeling the entire range of emotions deeply in the moment and then releasing them.
Mental attachments. This is my biggest area of focus because I’ve already made significant strides in releasing my physical and emotional attachments. In the past couple of years, I’ve realized that I hold some mental models that trap me in a state of unhelpful worry and anxiety. I was starting to think this was just “how I am,” but I know I don’t have to be this way. This year, I’ll be letting go of:
A sense of urgency, whether this is driven by internal or external factors. In the last couple of months of 2021, I started using the mantra, “You have plenty of time,” which has really helped shift my mindset.
My ego’s idea of what I should do, specifically feeling the need to be right or to make my point. This one is particularly difficult for me because I’ve been so ego driven for most of my life.
My past relationship with work. I’ve realized in the last several months that I have a very messed up relationship with paid work — perhaps because I stayed too long in a job that depleted me. I’m going to try to expand my definition of work to include things I do because I want to (e.g., creative projects, personal planning, etc.), while also healing my relationship with paid work. I work at two jobs I enjoy now, so I want to actually enjoy them!
Being hard on myself, aka perfection. I used to quickly sink into a shame spiral whenever I made a mistake, even a tiny one. I want to be kinder and gentler to myself. Mistakes are what make us human, and it all ends up fine in the grand scheme of things.
My expectations of other people, as well as other people’s expectations of me. The former isn’t fair to the people around me, and the latter isn’t fair to myself.
Other people’s emotions. I used to pride myself on being empathic; however, that meant that I often absorbed the emotions of the people around me, which impacted my own mood for an extended period of time. I want to practice compassion, but I’m going to work on remaining unattached to other people’s moods.
Overthinking about things I can’t control, e.g., the weather, stock prices, other people’s opinions or decisions, the future, etc. I’m going to do my best in each moment with the information I have, without any attachment to outcomes that are out of my control.
I’ll be working on infusing my annual theme into everything I do so I can let go without feeling any guilt, shame, or regret. I’ve also set a number of tactical, measurable goals for things I want to accomplish in 2022. In accordance with my annual theme, if I find during the year that any of the below goals no longer feels right, I won’t hesitate to let it go.
2022 Review
I let go of so much stuff this year! I’ve been finding that my annual themes aren’t really end points but rather lessons that I want to bring along with me as I move through the years. While I’ve made tons of progress with this, letting go is an ongoing practice that will extend well beyond 2022.
Goal #1: Finish testing and writing my book
I spent all of 2021 developing and testing a collection of self-reflection exercises for my book. In 2022, I plan to write the introductions to each of the chapters, edit and refine the writing, and print out a prototype. Even though it feels like I’ve done the bulk of the work, I want to take a thoughtful and patient approach, so I’m still working towards fully completing my book by May 2023.
I made great progress with this goal. I’ve finished writing my book and I’ve printed out a prototype. Towards the end of August, I started getting feedback from beta readers and I’ve made many many edits as a result. I scrapped, re-wrote, and tweaked a lot of the exercises, so I wanted to re-test them all before printing out a full proof. I’m about halfway through my final test of the exercises. I’ve created a layout that I’m very happy with, chosen my fonts, and designed a cover that I’ll be checking out in more detail when I print my full proof. I also set a tentative release date of September 23, 2023.
Goal #2: Record a video diary entry of my book progress once a week
The time spent working on my book is going by really quickly, and I haven’t really documented any of my progress aside from chatting about it sporadically in my vlogs. I’d like to document my progress via a video diary entry once a week in 2022. I’m not sure if I’ll use these clips for anything, but I think my future self may be glad to have them.
This goal was surprisingly easy! All my video diary entries are here and I plan to continue in 2023, at least until my book is released.
Goal #3: Record One second of video every day for at least a month
One of my friends invited me to do this project a year or two ago, but I kept forgetting to record the clips. Now that I’m using TickTick for my to-do lists and habits, I think I’ll have more success with this fun creative project. I’m going to try it out in January 2022. If I like it, I’ll extend the goal.
I completed this in January and I’m very happy with the result, but ultimately I decided not to extend this creative project.
Goal #4: Complete my Daily reflection practice
I loved my 2021 daily remembrance practice so much that I’ll be continuing it in 2022. Since I’ll also be trying to expand my definition of work and heal my relationship with paid work, I’ve added a second component to my daily reflection practice. I’ll be answering the following question at the end of every day:
What do you want to remember from today and what are you excited to work on tomorrow?
My daily reflection has become one of my favourite practices. I love having a collection of 2022 remembrances and thinking about what I wanted to work on the next day as helpful for my mindset. I plan to continue this goal indefinitely, changing up the question I ask myself each year.
Goal #5: try digital planning for my 2022 calendars
I’ve tried digital planning in the past and it was a mess. I think I’ve figured out a new system, and 2022 will be my full year experiment with using 100% digital calendars for my personal planning.
This is working so well for me!! I love my system and I’ve fully embraced digital planning via Google Calendar and TickTick.
Goal #6: Meet my ANNUAL expense target
This is a similar goal to last year, pretty much right down to the actual target expense level itself. I have some other financial targets within this goal, which I’ll be working towards and tracking throughout the year.
As of December 31st, I am 13% below budget. This is huge considering how much inflation we experienced this year! I also spent more money on food and travel because things started opening up. By comparison, I was approximately 30% under budget in 2021.
Goal #7: Log my cycle-related symptoms for at least three months
My friend sent me a super interesting Reddit thread on menstual cycle-related skincare, which was the catalyst for this goal. When she initially sent me the thread, I was motivated to start tracking my period again; however, I didn’t like any of the apps I tried (I used to use Flo for simple tracking but it doesn’t meet my current needs). Instead, I built a very simple Google sheet to track all the cycle-related symptoms that I’m interested in. I plan to use this tracker for at least three months. If it’s a helpful practice or if I need more data, I may extend this goal.
I ended up doing this for the entire year! I haven’t done much analysis yet, but I don’t think there are many surprises. I’m happy I have the data for when I want to review it, but I won’t be continuing this tracker in 2023.
Goal #8: No processed SNACKS after dinner
This is a goal that I started testing out a week before the new year and it’s been working out so well for my body. I used to eat processed snacks at any time during my feeding window, which meant that I’d usually eat a little (or a lot) at lunch time and also at dinner time. Since shifting my intake of processed snacks to earlier in the day, I’ve been eating lighter, more nutritious desserts like fruit and yogurt. I feel less full in the evening, my digestion has improved, and I’m feeling a lot better about what I’ve been eating overall. I’m going to try this for a full year, with some exceptions during special occasions like birthdays.
In 2022, I learned a lot about myself when it came to food. A lot of it was due to the food chapter of my book—writing and sharing the personal story in the introduction, receiving the beta reader feedback, and testing out the exercises myself. As a result, I’ve been tuning in a lot more to my inner compass when it comes to food—what I feel like eating, how much, what my appetite is like, and what would nourish me in the moment. I naturally let go of this goal as a result, because I don’t feel like I need to restrict myself in this way anymore.