I Didn’t Reach My Goals in 2022

Each December I make intentions for the upcoming year with a small list of 3 or 4 words I want the year to encapsulate. Alongside this list I make a couple of goals and an actual plan to achieve said goals.

As I was reflecting yesterday on this list I made last year, I realized how few of my goals I achieved. How different this year was to what I envisioned.

This year has been one of the hardest years of my life, and also one of the years I've grown the most...But I barely touched my list of goals.

I love to set words of intention rather than full on goals because, as we all know, a year can bring so much and who you are changes and evolves in a year. Sometimes the goals you set no longer serve you or maybe they look different than you anticipated. I prefer to view my words of intention as the landscape and the goal being part of the path - not the end destination. The destination is wherever I end up and exactly where I need to be.

This shift in thinking has given me so much freedom to look back and be proud of the path I walked and the lessons I learned along the way.

The path this year was hard. Truthfully. The nomadic lifestyle is incredibly romanticized right now and while I know some people love it, it's actually not a lifestyle I enjoy. You miss your community, have no roots, you have little stability, and living in an RV leaves you very much at the mercy of the elements. My nervous system has taken a huge hit this year. Finding internet has been the bane of my existence as I try to grow my company and expand our impact. As soon as we hit the road diesel prices exploded and prices for RV Parks became the highest they've ever been. It wasn't the money-saving sacrifice we planned on it being.

My goals of having land this fall, launching retreats, and having a tropical vacation planned to break up the long Montana winter didn't happen.

But my intentions for 2022 were to feel safe, free, nourished, and connected.

And you know what? Each of those are infused into my life so beautifully.

Despite this weird lifestyle and my readiness for the next step, I am safe, I am nourished, I am beginning to feel so connected to the incredible community here in Montana, but more importantly I feel more intimately connected and free to be myself than ever before.

I'm so proud of my team for sticking with me and being flexible. For serving our clients with integrity and quality and for taking the initiative when I'm quite literally OTG.

I'm proud of Daniel for adapting and taking such good care of his family. We were each other's only community in a lot of ways this year and I can honestly say I love him now more than ever and never once felt sick of him. Not a lot of people can say that about their relationship and I'm more thankful for him than I could possibly express.

I'm proud of this business I have built which has gotten a proper trial by fire this year. I talk about a sustainable business that can largely run itself and a business that allows for rest and time off and that got tested this year in BIG ways. I had full months with limited to no internet, full weeks I had to be unavailable and only work behind the scenes, travel days, and more. While there were times I had to shift and fine-tune, this concept of Gentle Business has made it through and shown me just how powerful it is. It's confirmed to me that you can create a business that supports you through life. A business that operates as a vehicle for freedom and not a personal prison.

And I'm proud of myself. Proud of my creativity in finding solutions, for working my ass off but not sacrificing my health for it, proud of myself for choosing growth over defeat when the line between the two is thin. I'm proud of myself for choosing to go full steam ahead with concepts and plans I had no idea would work. I didn't achieve all of my goals but I am exactly where I need to be.

My motivation through all of this has been to make sure women know they seen, heard, and are capable of supporting themselves and impacting the world in whatever way they desire, without burning out and sacrificing their health. I have felt unseen and misunderstood most of my life. I've felt crazy because I didn't understand how my body worked and the gift it is. I have felt the war between wanting to work hard and also not knowing how to find rest which left me sick. I've been so out of place in my body and the world that I had crippling panic attacks that I thought would kill me.

I see you. You are powerful. This year will bring beautiful things. The world needs you.

Whatever your passion, mission, or vision I want you to know there is a way to bring it to life without sacrificing yourself. There's a gentle way of navigating business. Your body as a woman is designed to create and bring life to the world - you don't have to force it but you do have to allow it to do what it was created to do. Lean into it.