2023 | Our Hopes And Challenges For The Year Ahead
Kia ora!
After a restful break, our Changing Minds whānau are looking forward to reconnecting with each other, and with the Lived Experience community in 2023.
This time of year often prompts kōrero about our wellbeing goals, hopes and resolutions. Our team are no different, but we also know that prioritising our mental health (or health in general!) isn’t always easy. Among all of the New Years resolution conversations it can hard speak up if we’re being challenged by our hopes or goals, or if the road feels a bit bumpy.
We hope that by sharing not only how as individuals we are strengthening walls of our wellbeing this year, but being open about our concerns and how we’d like to approach these, it opens the door for others to do the same!
If you are looking for support or resources for your wellbeing in 2023, our team are here for a friendly kōrero to help you find the information you need, or we have resources we support available on our website.
No two days are the same.
My wellbeing goal for the year is to get fit enough again to walk for a full day. This year I have registered for the 1200km challenge run by Wilderness Magazine . To keep me motivated I like having a goal to work towards and this one only requires an average of 3.2km a day to meet the target. Some days I can’t manage that so I add on a longer walk when I can at the weekend. It’s getting me back into a daily walking habit to start my day.
“Some days I can’t manage [my daily walk] so I add on a longer walk when I can at the weekend. It’s getting me back into a daily walking habit to start my day.”
The best way I know how.
“To love myself and those around me to the best possible way I know how”
My intention for this year is to focus on Faith, Hope and Love. Faith for what is to come, to be a hope for others and to love myself and those around me to the best possible way I know how.
Shifting away from fight or flight.
“A daily commitment to start the day nurturing our wellbeing”
In therapy last year, I discovered I am always in fight or flight mode, and one of the ways to shift into the parasympathetic nervous system instead, is to reduce stress. One of my biggest areas of stress is getting the family out the door on time in the mornings – it’s always hectic, there’s little time for connection, and we start the day stressed before we’ve even gone anywhere.
We have now introduced ‘slow mornings’ as part of our morning routine – going to bed earlier and waking naturally without an alarm, taking time upon waking to practise gratitude, meditate and journal, holding off jumping on the phone or having a coffee right away, and just easing into the day organically.
We started in the holidays and it’s been amazing – we all wake when our bodies are ready to, we eat when our bodies tell us to, we have cuddles and chat before a non-pressured morning routine begins. I absolutely love it, it’s a daily commitment to start the day nurturing our wellbeing and as a result we’re waking earlier so I‘ve set myself a challenge to maintain our slow mornings when school starts again.
Practice and communication.
“[I’m] trying to experience things, situations and moments as opportunities to learn and improve, rather than looking for ‘perfect.’”
My intention for this year is to ‘practice’. For my wellbeing this year that means dedicating time and energy to my yoga practice and meditation. Beyond that it means trying to experience things, situations and moments as opportunities to learn and improve, rather than looking for ‘perfect.’ Finding the balance between organised and anxious is a challenge for me so I’m trying to build my practice into my routine in advance and communicating to others why I’m structuring and protecting this time.”
Swapping out the treadmill.
“A small lesson in a world of mice on a treadmill. So, I swapped out my treadmill. ”
Recently I was sitting in a café contemplating my resolutions for the year ahead and a wise older woman suggested I ask, ‘how do I want to feel’ instead of ‘what do I want to achieve?’ Rather than another big ‘to do list’, my intentions became more nurturing and the anxiety fell away. Rather than stating a goal with fitness, it became more about; how will it feel when I walk up that hill and can breathe effortlessly and will enable a better sleep that night. A small lesson in a world of mice on a treadmill. So, I swapped out my treadmill.
Taking the pressure off.
“I want to think less about the task and focus more on moving toward an end goal”
I need to better control my negative emotions. I experience regular feelings of self-doubt, self-consciousness, indecisiveness and anxiety that mean I hide from what I most need, including talking with people and keeping moving forward. This happens when confronted with a task, often seemingly simple ones like answering the phone. What I want to do is think less about the task and focus more on moving toward an end goal. This will take the pressure of the phone call or interview or proposal or whatever and contextualise the ‘pressure’ as a step or moving towards a bigger goal that we can achieve with or without immediate success.
The Team at Changing Minds have been my ‘temperature check’ and courage. They know if I am apologising (more than usual) or hiding or have stopped talking – as if – and they have provided support, deliberate or serendipitous.