2017 has come and gone, and so much of it will be missed. For me, it was a year of dreaming boldly, loving whole-heartedly, traveling as much as I could afford, and forgiving- not for others- but for my own wellbeing. However, 2018 has arrived ready or not. My favorite blogger at Galadarling.com has drawn the tarot of card of the Empress for the year of 2018. What better card?
The Empress embodies powerful femininity, creative intuition, and fertility or abundance. She gives priority to her emotions and passions. This year is all about making "feeling good" a priority. The Empress is the Queen of the whole deck, the mother of Earth, the baddest bitch if you will.
My 2018 looks Lavish. I was challenged to choose one word to encapsulate the month of January. And my 2018 definitely did not begin the way I would have hoped it to. Recently single, young, broke, and destined for the bad news of paying off some unexpected hospital bills- I'm gonna be working hard for a little while. That's just basic math. However, if I'm gonna be working hard, I've decided that it's important to relax harder. Working is exhausting, and especially knowing that it's something that has to be done- kinda eggs on a frustrating vibe. It's important to acknowledge all the hard work that is getting done, and to love myself for the dedication. I deserve to live lavishly; and to treat myself to the little luxuries of life. To focus on the things that make me feel good, and become aware of the things that do not. To me, living lavishly might look like bubble baths and Lana Del Rey records, buying expensive, boujee nails from nailedbycristy.com to glam myself up, or fearlessly dressing myself like when I was four and I didn't care how anyone else saw me.
Forget resolutions we're just waiting to break, set some goals and desired feelings for 2018. My overall goal for this year is to aggressively and intimately pursue my music. I started rapping about a year ago and I can without hesitation admit that rapping is my one true love. I'm proud of my lyricism and the originality of every beat I master. I performed my first concert in 2017, along with printing my first official CD. I'm really proud of what I put out, and I'm proud of my perseverance to remain an independent artist. I don't want to set anything too specific for 2018 because I don't want to limit my possibilities.
My core desired feelings for this year are to feel enchanted, daring, and content. Coming up with goals however, were a little more overwhelming. To get started, I took Tony Robbin's quiz on the six essential human needs that drive us at core.tonyrobbins.com/driving-force. It's a super easy, 10-question quiz about you. At the end, you'll get to learn about what your #1 driving force is, what powers that equips you with, the kryptonite that tends to set you off, and where you can shift your focus. When I took the test, I learned that my driving force is uncertainty. I am constantly changing to feel alive. I like variety, excitement, surprise, and diversity.
This has sculpted my goals for 2018 into 2 pretty big ideas:
I. Live in the moment. I've heard it said that depression is when your thoughts are stuck in the past. Anxiety is when your focus is toward the future. If you are living solely in the present, neither can exist- because all of your energy is focused on being here, right now. That's where I want to be. I want to feel every moment, and experience everything all the time.
II. Pursue the Best Self I can be. All you really have guaranteed in this world is yourself. People will come and go, jobs will disappear and present themselves accordingly, and you're living situation could change in a heartbeat. If all I have is me, I have to learn to be happy with myself. Put myself first, because I deserve that. Be someone that I would love to have around 24/7, because according to my genes, I could be around for awhile.
Good riddance, 2017. But helloooo 2018. I'm excited to spend the next 12 months digging deeper into what you got planned for me. Stay hopeful, honest, and humble my nuggets.
xoxo,
Hannie
