5 Actions to Help You Clear Space Before the New Year
Or anytime you need to reset and refresh
Finally, it’s almost 2021!
Of course, just because we start a new calendar year does not mean that our lives automatically level up.
How you go into this new year is up to you, but first you need to do a few things that will successfully put 2020 to bed and ensure that you’ve learned what you needed to this year for a kick-ass 2021.
Here are a few things you can do to anchor yourself and set up the new year for success.
1. Reflect
Take some time to journal about what happened this year: the good, the bad, the growth, and the mistakes. What did you learn? What can you leave behind in this year, and what will you carry with you into the next?
It’s important that you take the time to actually write this down, preferably by hand, but typed also works. The idea is to be able to see the words translate from your brain to somewhere else.
Reflection allows us to process everything that happened this year so that we can create space for new experiences to come into our lives in the coming year. If you’re not processing, especially in such a tumultuous year as this one, then you’re continuing to carry that mental and emotional baggage around, making it more difficult to attract what you really want in the future.
Many people quickly abandon their New Year’s resolutions for this reason. They don’t reflect on what they’ve learned and how that will impact them moving forward, and so they’re doomed to repeat the same old mistakes.
Reflect, integrate, and move on into the new year.
2. Practice Gratitude
I recommend a regular gratitude practice as one of the most essential ways to improve the quality of your life, but it becomes even more poignant in this final week of the year.
You may have just given and received gifts in a frenzy of holiday activity, and now is a great time to acknowledge gratitude for those gifts. (And send thank you cards, where appropriate!)
You can also use your reflection above to elaborate on what you’ve been grateful for during the year. If you are hard pressed to come up with anything for this year, you’re thinking too hard. Go back to basics. Do you have a warm house to live in? Food on your table? Friends and family that love and support you? Thank the Universe, or God, or Whoever you like, for these blessings.
Not only will you feel much better about the year overall, you’re once again attracting that same energy of gratitude into your life for the coming year.
3. Declutter
There’s no better way to clear out the old energy of the year gone-by than a good declutter.
Make Marie Kondo proud and go through your clothes, books, and anything else you’ve accumulated throughout the year, and see what you can sell, donate, or just trash.
I have found that physically decluttering my space also leads to mental decluttering and a lot more peace of mind on a day-to-day basis. Plus, you might make a few bucks out of it, or make someone else’s day with a donation.
If you need some additional mental decluttering, don’t be afraid to get your thoughts out on paper, (See the theme here?) and then rip it into tiny pieces, or if you can do so safely, burn the paper — and your mental chatter — away.
This is a powerful exercise to once again create space and lightness going into the new year.
4. Self-Care
Now that the holidays are over and before we jump into January, it’s a great time to go that extra mile to practice a little self-care.
Epsom salt baths or footbaths, massages, reading a good book, or even preparing a comforting meal are great options. Just take some time to love on yourself and do something nice that you normally wouldn’t do.
5. Focus on What You Want
This isn’t the same as setting goals or resolutions. This is the step before that, figuring out what you actually want. So many of us rarely even stop to look around at our lives and ask whether we are living how we want to live. It’s easy to get caught up in the routine, in other people’s problems and needs, and skip over what is actually important to us.
So take this in-between time to ask yourself: what do you really want for this coming year? How do you want to feel? How do you want to show up for others? How do you want to show up for yourself?
Again, these questions are best answered by journaling. Feel free to take your time, write a little bit, walk away for a while, come back with fresh eyes.
If you didn’t have an idea of what you wanted your goals or resolutions to be before doing this, you most likely will come away with at least one thing, even if that one thing is, “I want to figure out what I really want.” That’s still a powerful intention to set! And just by posing the question, you’ll be that much closer to finding the answer.
Don’t Dismiss This Year as a Total Loss
Even if the above activities are the most reflection and self-care you’ve done all year, you’ll be well on your way to a better 2021 and beyond.
I hope this coming year treats you well.
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