3 ways to make 2020 your best year yet

I have bad news.

If you're anywhere like I was a few years ago, the new decade won't be any different unless you start doing these three things.

It was December 2017. I was in a job that had me feeling trapped. My role had evolved away from my core expertise and I found myself being the person who could hustle and get sh*t done, rather than someone who was truly doing what I loved. As the primary breadwinner, fear of making ends meet had me paralysed.

At home, hubby was working part time in the only job he could get. A good 10 rungs below what he was capable of and so his mental health and ego was taking a beating every day.

The kids were in a lot of before and after school care and I became a drill sergeant who was constantly yelling at them to hurry up, go faster and keep moving because we were always late and I always should have been somewhere else by now.

I could count on one hand the number of times hubby and I had talked of anything but logistics or life admin. Talking car insurance options does not a romantic evening make!

In short, I was existing on the treadmill of life. Just slogging my way through every day, collapsing into bed each night, exhausted from running since dawn yet never feeling like I actually accomplished anything, or made a dent in the to list.

There was little thought to joy, or fun - who had time for that!

The thing is, I'd become so used to this life of existing, that I had forgotten that there could be another way. Being resigned to the fact that this is my lot in life, that sacrifice on so many levels was necessary in order to have what I wanted, was a deep rooted belief I had within me.

After all, I'd been coping for 7 years already - surely I could keep going?

I just needed to find a little more time. Get up earlier. Get through this project. Wait until after the next birthday. Then I'll get on top of things. Then I'll disconnect. Then I'll be happy.

Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

It was never going to change.

The treadmill was only going to get faster. Work was only going to demand more from me. The kids were getting older and activities were increasing. Suddenly my daughter only wanted to do her maths homework with me, which is tricky to get her to concentrate at 8pm when I get home. The niggling fights between hubby and I were starting to increase in frequency.

I could see where this was leading. I knew the slippery slope of indifference, that shoving my head in the sand while scratching around for a magic wand in a self-help book wasn't going to make this problem any better.

It was only a matter of time before I would fall off that treadmill and the consequences for me and those I loved would be nothing short of catastrophic.

So as I stared ahead at 2018, I knew it was time to make a change. I was determined to create a different future for myself and my family.

Two years later I am ready to face into the new decade with excitement, gratitude and joy. I’m doing work that I love, my family is thriving and I can honestly say I’m the happiest I’ve been in a very long time. Is life perfect? No! Of course not, and I’d never expect it to be. But is it light years away from how it used to be? Hells yes!

So what did I do? Three things.

• I discovered gratitude
• I stopped feeling guilt
• I learned to be uncomfortable

Three simple things that have changed me, have positively impacted my family and are the guideposts I live by as I craft a life on my own terms.

So, I'm curious.

Is 2020 going to be the year you have more of the same? More hustle, more grind, more exhaustion. More running, more guilt, more sacrifice. Where focus goes, energy flows, and so by living in this world you are only guaranteeing more of the same will be part of your future.

Can you work any harder? Can you find more time to work longer? Could you be any more tired? I know, let's find more stuff to feel guilty about! Is there anything left to give up?

Or, have you decided that you'd like the next decade to look very different from the last.

How about more time, more joy and more love? More connection, more growth, more YOU?

If you've decided enough is enough. That you're done sacrificing everything. You're done trying to find a way to fix this yourself. You want change.

Then book a slot in my calendar to talk before it's too late. We're weeks away from the end of the year and the end of the decade. What if these three simple changes could be as powerful for you as they have been for me?

Start the new year with a fresh perspective, knowing you're taking a stand for the type of life you know you deserve. I know you've got it in you. I can help you see that.

But first I need you to take a stand and decide, that today, I choose me. I choose life. I choose change.

Book in your call today and let's make 2020 your best year yet!