New Year Reflections 2023

At the start of every year, I reflect on the past and share a few goals for the future. This time, it’s pretty simple and I can categorize it into two things: the biggest takeaway from 2022, and the biggest goal for 2023.

Biggest Takeaway from 2022

In the past year I have discovered and practiced a lifestyle choice that has helped me a lot. It is something that I highly recommend, because it has improved all of these for me:

• Better physical health
• Better mental well-being
• Stronger relationships
• Better able to focus on God
• More mindfulness and thankfulness
• Better quality time
• Better prioritization and organization
• More joy in life

What is this lifestyle choice? I’m sure there are many more eloquent names for it, but I just call it “non-busyness.”

Non-busyness describes a lifestyle where I actively make choices that decrease my level of busyness or prevent my life from getting busier.

It’s not about how busy I actually am. I could be very busy, but as long as the choices I am making do not make my life even busier, I am successfully practicing non-busyness.

Of course the goal is to ultimately reduce the level of busyness in my life, but non-busyness is more about the process – the actual choices that I make. The final result is just a benefit I get to enjoy.

This means that you can have a lot of responsibilities and commitments but still be actively practicing non-busyness. It can look different for everyone, and that flexibility makes it all the more highly recommended. It’s not about how busy you are – it’s about the choices you make.

Would you like to give it a try this year? If so, I’d love to hear about your experience with it 🙂

Biggest Goal for 2023

Instead of New Year’s Resolutions, I like to make goals for the year. This year, I only have one goal. I don’t think I’ll be able to handle any other goals besides this one.

Take good care of my family.

This is the biggest thing I want this year, and probably the biggest project I’ve undertaken in my life, but there are good people supporting us and a good God. I used to firmly believe I would crash and burn as a mom, but somehow something in me changed in the past year and suddenly I felt so much peace that it will be okay.

I am aware that once my daughter arrives, I will change so much that I’ll become a completely different person with a new identity. I am excited about that and curious who I will become. I’ve changed so much in the last few years, and it’s been pretty fascinating discovering who I have become and who I am becoming.

I think a younger Haidan would have been horrified at the person I have become today, but hey she doesn’t exist anymore. I do. And I’m quite happy with who I have become.