Planning for the New Year

A friend posted on Facebook, asking for folks to share something that they accomplished this year. I think that this is such an important time to reflect on the past year and to consider what’s up next. For me, I’m continuing to prioritize my health, my family, and building my business. Over the past year, I feel like there has been a lot of growth in these areas of my life.

Personally, I experienced improved health and wellness this year, thanks to the surgery I had last year- 2019 was brutal for me. And I realize that my perspective maybe quite different than others because of this fact. This year has felt manageable for me and my health. For our family we have had many opportunities to connect. Thanks to the pandemic I got to play a role in my kids schooling that I never imagined before now. We also welcomed a dog to our family this year. And this has been such an awesome decision! With my work, I have built the virtual counselling part of my practice faster than I ever thought possible.

The tech that I use in my practice has come so far since last March. This has been something I was working towards since I began my private practice almost three years ago.  I have tried many different online platforms to offer virtual counselling, but it never worked as well as I wanted. It feels like a satisfying accomplishment that our field is now able to offer virtual counselling consistently and reliably. And there isn’t just one platform offering it. This is a breakthrough for our field (and the people we serve) in so many ways. I am so grateful for this innovation.

So even though 2020 was a challenge I never expected, and at times resented, it has forced me to prioritize and focus on the things that are important to me in a new way. Thinking about what is up next, I look at the same three priorities- my health, my family, and my business. With my health- I am focusing on improving my sleep. This is something I have struggled with throughout my life. I hope to follow a more consistent bedtime and morning routine because I find that when I can commit to both equally, my sleep does improve. For my family, we are finding new traditions during the holiday season (like our ongoing Gluten-free/dairy-free gingerbread house experiment). Throughout this year we have been eating dinner together most nights and talk about our days- we plan to continue this and over the winter we are committed to reading a novel aloud together and regularly playing board games together. I’m excited to see what happens in these parts of my life.

And with my business, I’ve been working on an online course since the summer and planning it for years. I really wanted to synthesize my personal and professional experiences with chronic pain and illness. It’s terrifying to put it out there, but I’ve been working on it and built it to share with people. It is something that I can continue to edit and change so it may evolve from where it is today. Eventually I hope to build from it and see what happens. It’s not perfect. But for now- this is what I have to offer. And so I have decided that now is the time to share it, even though I could tweak it some more. If you’re interested, you can check it out here: https://staceyivits.thinkific.com/  (It does ask for sign up information- name & email- I will not be sharing this with anyone.) If you have any suggestions on how to change or improve it, I welcome the feedback.

All the best to each of you. I hope you also have a chance to take some time and reflect on your own year and the hopes that you have for next year. Happy New Year!