As we end 2024 and begin 2025, most of us have grand and exciting plans to make this new year the best year yet. And yet, many times we have already broken our resolutions by the second week of January! (Yes…. that is true:)! So, as we embark on 2025, I was intrigued by a few articles which focus on the concept of “Just for Today”. I read an article, by of all people, Dear Abby in which she highlighted a post from her late mother, Pauline Phillips, which she had adapted by the original credo of Al-Anon. I was touched by the simplicity of the ‘just for today’ approach…and thus, have taken my own ‘stab’ at what this may look like for me in 2025.
Just for today…. I will live this day to its fullest…. meaning simple, introspective walks in the morning, embracing each soul who crosses my path, learning the hard lessons, keeping a constant prayerful state with our Creator, and working hard to achieve my aspirations…. among many other breath-filled moments.
Just for today…. I will do all I can to be and stay healthy…. pray, exercise, meditate, eat right, and get enough rest.
Just for today…. I will be kind to all who cross my path, especially those who pass unfair judgment, and those that wish ill upon others.
Just for today.…I accept my current reality with gratitude, play the hand I have been dealt, and change those things I can and accept those I cannot….and choose to learn from them.
Just for today.…. I will do all I can to improve myself…. read, learn, listen, shift perspectives, embrace change, healthy choices, and take full responsibility for my life – good and challenging.
Just for today…. I will choose love over fear. I will choose Faith over doubt. I will choose joy over sadness. I will choose hope over hatred. I choose to serve in all things and in all ways.
As I wrote this article, I realized each of us have the opportunity to ‘start over’ each year – and yes, our years are made up of 365 days….no more no less. So, in addition to focusing on EACH DAY…. JUST FOR TODAY.…. I’d also like to suggest we start a new year by recapping the prior year.
Ask yourself relative to 2024: what worked/what didn’t work relative to your business, your life, your goals, and your intentions. Each year I ask these questions of myself and my clients to help ‘give pause’ and stimulate our thoughts on this past year:
o How did I spend my time in 2024?
o What were my greatest accomplishments?
o What (and who) were my greatest disappointments?
o How did these experiences change me?
o What am I tolerating? Why? What steps can I take to make a change?
o What am I trying to force to happen? What would happen if I just ‘let go’?!
Then, a few questions to help chart 2025 – and then we can take each day….one by one:
- What will be my primary focus in 2025?
- What do I really want? What is still holding me back?
- What do I want to contribute to the world?
- How will I hold myself accountable?
- What is working for me? How can I have ‘more of that’?!!
- What kind of business partners do I want in 2025?
- What may need to change? What are the first steps I need to take to make that change?
- At the end of 2025, where would I like to find myself? How do I get there?
- What is my intention for myself in 2025?
We own our lives. No one else does. So, what we decide to focus upon – in thought, word, and deed – will be what we create. So, print out this article, spend time re-learning about yourself, and determine what you want to manifest in your life and this next year. And realize EACH day is the opportunity to start again!
Let’s make this year the best year yet….and live each day – JUST FOR TODAY……after all…. that is all we really have.