Author: laurynshealthyliving

person holding a green plant
Posted in Mindset

2023: 5 Guidelines to Live By

Posted on by laurynshealthyliving
Guest Post by Lauryn Woodman
Guest Post by Lauryn Woodman

Instructional Designer, Educator, Accessibility Advocate

Visit Lauryn’s Website

The Inspiration

I watched this video a few days before the New Year. I recommend you watch it, too.

To summarize for those of you who aren’t link clickers, it’s basically Rob Dyrdek saying that he never wants to get to a “reactive” place in 2023, and explaining that doing so will require a high level of discipline. My podcast preferences tend to lean more towards True Crime than privileged men spouting “motivational” buzzwords, but this one spoke to me. Scrolling through the comments, I saw many who interpreted Rob’s message as needing to work harder, grind harder, and go bigger. What I got out of it was so different. And it’s shaped my goal for 2023:

The Goal

In 2023, I never want to get to that low, terrible, reactive place. 

The Guidelines

And to do so, will require discipline. Here are 5 guidelines I’ve set for how I plan to live my life in 2023.

5 in a vase
Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich on Pexels.com
  1. In 2023, I will be respectful of my own boundaries. I will not stretch myself beyond my capacity to accommodate the desires of others. I’ll give myself the grace to say no and not feel guilty. I will indulge in rest when rest is needed. 
  2. In 2023, I will not allow others’ energy to influence my own. I tend to take on other people’s stress, their drama, and even their emotions. This year, I will hold space for my own energy, and no one else’s.
  3. In 2023, I will live freely. With no strings, no bonds, and without allowing outside forces to shape the direction of my life. I will go with the flow.
  4. In 2023, I will enjoy the journey. Whether I feel I am “on track” or not, I will know that each twist and turn in my life is leading me to exactly where I need to be, when I need to be there. 
  5. In 2023, I will enjoy the small moments, I will find joy in quiet moments with friends. See the value in the quiet nights in as much as the once-in-a-lifetime moments I will inevitably experience. I will live each day fully in the moment, no matter where the day takes me, realizing that each experience, no matter how mundane, is a gift.

selective focus photo of green plant seedling on tree trunk
Photo by David Alberto Carmona Coto on Pexels.com

I know that some of these guidelines might seem hokey or even unattainable. Or maybe to you, they sound obvious. But I know how I feel and how I act when I allow myself to get caught up in what I “think” I should be doing, or how I “think” I should be living. I know that I’ve allowed myself to get caught up in unnecessary drama from outside forces that has actually shaped the direction of my life and how I live. And I know that when I am that person, living that life, I am unhappy, unsettled, and unmotivated. I deserve a chance to live my best life, and I plan to do that in 2023.

I hope that all of you can find guidelines important to you and refocus your life in 2023 so that you can live the best life that you are capable of this year.

art arts and crafts board game conceptual
Posted in Goal, Manifestation

Dear 2022, We need to have a word

Posted on by laurynshealthyliving
Guest Post by Lauryn Woodman
Guest Post by Lauryn Woodman

Instructional Designer, Educator, Accessibility Advocate

Visit Lauryn’s Website

Well, that happened. I think we can all agree that 2021 was kind of a whirlwind. In any event, whatever it was for you, it’s over now. With the end of a year comes closure, reflection, excitement, and hopefully some semblance of focus and vision.

Woman thinking
Photo by kevin turcios on Unsplash

What do you want to do in this year ahead? Who do you want to be? In a perfect world? Well, what would that perfect world be? What would it look like?

What went right or wrong in 2021? And how can you make sure that 2022 brings you positivity, peace, and happiness?

I don’t love the idea of New Year’s resolutions. I never set them, and even in the past when I had I always failed almost instantly. What I’ve started doing over the past few years is setting a word of intention. Something to focus on. Something to ground me. Something to bring me back to my purpose, to keep me going through the year.

After the torment that was 2020, that saw so much loss and so much pain, I chose to focus on the word peace for the first six months of 2021. I sought peace in every aspect of my life, in all my interactions. I thought hard about my situation, my relationships, and evaluated if they were bringing me the peace that I wanted and needed. Weirdly (or perhaps intuitively), as I started to embrace peace, and started to turn away from the things that didn’t bring me that peace, I found it and I found myself at ease. Peaceful.

And so having made it to the mountaintop by midway through 2021, I decided to choose another word, and that word was free. I had found peace but I still felt caged and restricted. A lot of that was having a job that was no longer serving me or my purpose and feeling really uninspired. I wanted to break free. There were also a lot of relationships that I felt trapped in. I was “keeping the peace” but I wasn’t free to be myself.

Finding myself and remembering who I was, and learning to manage those relationships played a key role in helping me feel free. By the end of 2021, I had a new job that valued and inspired me. I have some new and different and stronger relationships with people who support me and my freedom and my peace. And the year ahead looks really bright. There’s a lot of opportunities. And when I look back to a year ago, my life on the surface might seem similar but it feels so different because I have peace and I have freedom.

person sitting on top of a mountain
Photo by Fagner Trinca on Unsplash

As we approach 2022, I challenge you to take a look at your life. Think hard about what it is you want. Who you want to be, how you want to live, how you want to feel. Then choose a word to focus on as you move forward into 2022. I find that focusing on a feeling is much more profound than focusing on something tangible. You might think that you want more money, but why? What’s the goal? Do you want to be able to provide? Do you want to feel fulfilled? Do you want the freedom that comes with more money? We should be chasing those feelings rather than their tangible outcomes. If you seek fulfillment in the feeling, no matter what the tangible outcome is, you’ll feel fulfilled.

So what will your word be?