What You Want in 2024
What do you want in 2024?
What do you want to have, do, and be?
People often cannot answer this seemingly simple question. They cannot answer because they feel stuck. You are not stuck, you are not lazy. After years of survival mode, you are exhausted.
My advice to people who are exhausted is always the same. Do More. More they exclaim! I’m wrecked - how can I do more?
You need to do more of what lights you up.
More of what fills your soul with joy!
I love this quote from Rabbi Jeffery Summit: Every person should carry two pieces of paper. One in their right pocket and one in their left. In their left pocket, the paper should say “I am but ashes and dust.” In the right, “For my sake, the world was created.”
Your job is to keep these opposing beliefs in balance. This works in perfectly with my personal belief that I am everything and nothing. Believing you are nothing is incredibly humbling. It keeps life in perspective but is not a place you need to unpack and live in!
"I am everything.” sits nicely beside “For my sake, the world was created.” This belief is ideal for action, conviction, and propelling you forward.
What if the world was created FOR you in 2024? Starting the year believing that could be the game changer you are looking for.
What do you want?
Knowing what you want and how to get it changes your life. As a child, my nickname was ‘Princess Iwanta.’ My parents called me that. As from an early age, I stropped around with a deep sense of want. I have always been very in touch with my inner wants. At all times, I know what I want to eat, buy, find, wear, do, be, and have.
For most people, ‘wanting’ is audacious. We’ve been taught that it is not ok to want, that we cannot have what we want. Indeed, we should not even ask for it.
Most of us were taught by our mothers, raised in resentment by women who believed that they could not have – and were not entitled to – a wonderful life. My mother grew up thinking that she was second fiddle to her brothers. She learned that her role in the world was to be helpful to those around her and that ‘doing what she wanted’ was a luxury not designed for her.
The problem with believing that you cannot have what you want is that it breeds resentment. Bitterness and obligation are the fastest roads to an unhappy life.
When we do stuff that we don’t want to do or that we don’t like to do, we become resentful. When we do stuff that lights us up, we become lighter.
Take some time to consider what it is you want. It might be an object, a thing, a new house, a car, or a pet. More often, it is a feeling. You might want to feel rested, calm, or relaxed. You might want the feeling of accomplishment - to feel successful? To achieve a goal? I am obsessed with wants - because what you want leads you to what you need.
You cannot know what you need in 2024 if you haven’t started with what you want.
What would fill you with joy?
What would make this year the best year of your life?
The New Year is a wonderful space, like the first page in a new notebook - the possibilities are endless! You have twelve months of potential laid out in front of you. 365 days to do you.
For your sake, this year has been created - be a shame to waste it!
Happy New Year!