2018 Intentions

Hey guys! I might be a bit late with my 2018 intentions post, but I’m just back from my holidays in Italy and Greece and I’m feeling rejuvenated, relaxed and ready to start the new year with positivity. I love this time of the year as I get to have a nice long break with my family and friends and find the time and space to take a good look at my life. This way, I can understand what works for me and what doesn’t and decide what I want to take with me to the new year as well as what new elements I want to add to it. The feeling of a fresh start motivates me and fuels me with positive energy. When I was younger, I used to go crazy with my resolutions list adding too many things to it and setting myself up for failure. When making my 2018 intentions list , I happily realised that most of what’s on it were actually things I’m already embracing in my life. And as exciting as learning to speak Chinese might be, I like the feeling of progress that my new intentions list gives me.

Here are some of them:

Blog consistently

As I said on my previous post, migrating to a self-hosted website was one of my 2017 highlights. Since launching in late October, I have managed to blog consistently twice a week (with only a couple of exemptions). I didn’t use to be very consistent with my blogging before moving to my new website so this is an achievement  I’m very proud of. It can be very challenging at times to find the time to prepare quality blog content whilst having  a 9-5 job, but I intend to continue  consistently blogging twice a week as I love regularly being in touch with my readers .

Put myself more ‘out there’ on my blog and social media

I have a confession to make. I want everyone to like me. Don’t we all? Well I think that some people feel the pressure of wanting people’s approval more than others and sadly I’m one of them.  This is one of the things I intend to work on generally in my life but also on my blog and social media presence. I used to write blog posts that were more what I’d call neutral, nothing controversial or too personal. I always write about the things I love, I never lie about that just to sound more pleasant. But lately I have found a new, more personal ‘voice’ which I would like to use more and more. It feels right and helps me engage with people more. I am very open and honest in my personal relationships but the internet can be a big scary place. Still though, I intend to put a more raw version of myself out there in the new year with more personal blog and social media posts.

Progress my yoga practice

Another 2017 highlight that made it to my 2018 intentions! I have loved practicing yoga but I feel like I have been stable at the same level for sometime now, without much progressing after last year’s leap. So this year I intend to push myself a little bit more to progress my asana practice- handstands is the dream!- but also my spiritual practice which leads me to the following point in my list.

Evolve my meditation practice

One of the greatest habits I built in 2017 was meditating every morning for 15 minutes. Although difficult to start with, I have loved doing it as it sets me in the right mood for the day, grounds me and helps me control my anxiety. This year, along with my short morning meditation ritual, I intend to allocate special time for longer and deeper meditations a couple times per week as well as try other styles of meditation. I tried Kundalini yoga last year which is a form of moving meditation and really liked to so I might try it again!

Be more mindful

Being more mindful and present has been the biggest personality shift for me the past couple of years. Impatient by nature, I used to overthink about all the things I wanted right now without paying too much attention to the present moment. As a result, I was missing out from fully enjoying all the great things that were happening in my life in the present. I have now made it my intention to focus much more on the present moment, appreciating everything it has to give and being grateful for it. Being grateful for the nice things-small and big- that happen every day has also helped me feel happier now instead of waiting to feel happy only when a big goal has been accomplished in the future. One of my 2017 rituals that I want to include in my 2018 intentions, is to list in the beginning of each day 10 things I’m grateful for that happened the previous day.

Increase my strength

In 2017 I was well into my weight-lifting training and feeling the strongest and fittest  I’ve ever felt in my life. This came to a halt when I started suffering from sciatica in summer 2017. I’ve spoken before about how hard this has been both mentally and physically and unfortunately it is something that I haven’t fully recovered from yet.  But this year I intend to get back to my strength training and to lifting. I will try to be smart about it though. Pace myself, listen to my body, give pre and post-training stretching the attention it deserves and the biggest challenge for me…be patient!

What are your 2018 intentions? I’m looking forward to hearing them all!

Love,

Eleni xx

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