An Anti-Resolution Manifesto

I’m a natural planner and organizer. It is deeply embedded in my personality. I sort things for fun.I love to set goals and break down projects into achievable steps. I love lists and crossing things off of them. This kind of thing used to be my career and I loved it.But what I don’t love is planning and goal-setting in January.  I don't like New Year's resolutions.I do love the feel of the fresh start of a new year. I love the blank slate of possibility. I love the room to dream about what the future might hold.But in January what I want to do most is sleep. I want to clean my house of all the Christmas stuff and make everything fit back into their proper places (this takes some doing, after the influx of holiday gifts for a 3-year-old!). I want to eat a lot of vegetables to counter all the crap I ate in December. I want to perfect my green smoothie recipe and sit in the sun with a book as often as there is sun to sit in.This week I’m delighted to have a clean kitchen counter and a dining room table with only candles on it. Until we hosted Christmas dinner, that table was covered with strewn papers and stacks of mail and magazines that needed going through. All that stuff went in a box that I have since mostly cleaned out.Now I can sit at the counter and doodle while my daughter watches her beloved Dinosaur Train on Netflix. We can sit down to dinner without shoving a pile of stuff to one side. These things feel like enough accomplishment for the moment.I have made some space and in this space I can breathe. I can rest.What I need most right now is room to breathe. I need to process 2013 still. I need to think about what I want to invite in to my life this year. I need to think about where I am with this blog and my business and what things feel exciting to do next. That is a process that cannot be forced. It needs breathing room to unfurl.I’m not ready to take pen to paper and commit to resolutions or goals or plans. I’m just not ready.Maybe you’re there, too? Does it all feel like too much, too soon?Already this month I have been inundated with articles, posts and sales pages about planners, workbooks, worksheets and classes on how to kick this year off right, get things happening in my life or business, and all the resolutions that all these productive people were committing to.This year I said no. No resolutions. No plans. No lists.Not until February.Next month I’ll think about the rest of the year. This month I’m just going to rest in gratitude for having survived the last one. This month I’m going to invite my heart to tell me where it wants to go, instead of using my head to lead the way.Will you join me?Leave a comment and let me know how you are making yourself some room to breathe this month.