I've always been someone who loves the "fresh start" a New Year brings, and although I believe we can make changes and set intentions anytime, there's definitely something very motivating about the first of January.

Whether you're someone who likes to set resolutions or not, I think it's always beneficial to look back on the year, celebrate the achievements, appreciate the highlights and acknowledge and learn from the lows (that we all have no matter how fabulous life may look on social media).
(If you're needing some inspiration on how to do this, this is a fab video: "Five questions to reflect and plan for the New Year in 2018")

I've had an incredible 2017 (mostly filled with crazy high's but also a few lows, that I haven't shared on the blog) and I'm excited to make 2018 an equally memorable year.

One simple way I'm planning out my 2018 and something that I think will really help you too, is asking this one main question:

How Do I Want to Feel in 2018?

This has been so helpful for me as instead of creating a big long list of lofty goals and things to do that more than likely won't all be achieved, it gives me a much bigger overview that I find feels really freeing and inspiring. It gives me a general focus of what I'm working towards and from there I can then narrow down on the more specific ways of how I'm actually going to achieve this.

I thought I'd share an example of what my answers to this question are for this year, although keep in mind I am being quite general here as I didn't want to be sharing too much!

So, how do I want to feel in 2018?

1) A sense of calm and control
2) A sense of achievement (in a few key areas)
3) A feeling of energy, strength and wellness
4) Fun and Playful

These are essentially my four main values of Peace and Simplicity, Productivity, Wellness, and Playfulness, and the key to feeling content and happy really is to first identify your values and then figure out a way to embody them every day.

I find this question can be really helpful in identifying your values, and once you know what they are, you can then narrow down on the more specific intentions and habits to implement in order to actually live out those values.

This is an approach I learnt about from an online course called Life With Intention Online which was created by Jess Lively of The Lively Show - one of my favourite podcasts. She dives pretty deep into this topic and gives very specific ways of how to go about setting these "Values Based Intentions", and following through with them. Her approach is quite different to the usual and "traditional" advice that is given on goal setting and self development (e.g. things like "SMART" goals etc), and I found it to be hugely beneficial.

If you're someone who's not keen on resolutions, or if you are really into your New Year planning, and wanting to try a slightly different approach to the standard "New Years Goals" list, I think answering this one question can be really helpful.

Instead of focusing first on all the things you want to HAVE and DO, it first makes you focus on how you want to BE, and you can then take action from there.

I don't know if my explanation of all this is as clear as it could be, but this approach has really been helping me the last few months, and I'll link a few resources below that go into more depth!

I hope you have a fabulous start to 2018 - I'm excited for what the year will bring!