2021 Here We Come! Tips for Preparing for the New Year

Welcome to December 2020. We made it! Somehow we survived this crazy, difficult year. In just 31 days, 2020 will be behind us and we can start a new year fresh….Except, no matter how much we may all wish it was so, January 1, 2021 will not magically reset the world back to what it was on December 31, 2019. This year happened. It tested us, plagued us (pretty much literally), isolated us, and forced us to examine our perspectives from new and sometimes painful angles. And nothing can erase all that. Nor should it! Yes, this year was tough, but hopefully we’ve all become a little tougher because of it. The question is, what now? How do we go into a new year with hope and determination and new goals, when 2020 took all those positive things and shoved them right back in our faces? How do we attempt to improve ourselves when the world is still partially in lockdown and we don’t know when or if it will ever go back to “normal”?

I definitely do not have the answers to all of those questions. Most of them are too big for me to wrap my head around. My anxiety still tries to tackle them anyway, because I am hardwired to mentally pick at unanswered questions like children do scabs. But one thing I do know; the time to start preparing for 2021 is now. I have had a bad habit over the years of putting off goal setting until January. That means I don’t really feel like the new year has started and I’m ready to tackle my new goals until February. Then I end up feeling like I’m already behind, which makes me feel discouraged. Not this year! I’m determined that 2021 isn’t going to sneak up on me.

Here are a few things I’m doing now to make sure that I’m ready to start 2021 on the right foot.

PICK A YEAR-LONG FOCUS – For me, this is a three-step process. I like to start by reflecting on the things I know are going to take place in the upcoming year. Typically, because I’m an Army wife, this centers around courses, TDYs (temporary duty), trainings, and field exercises that I know my husband will be doing over the course of the year. Obviously those things are subject to change (you can read my post about the ever-changing nature of military life here), but focusing on the biggest challenges of the upcoming year helps me think about what strengths I need to develop in order to be successful. Once I’ve figured out what I want to be working on, I go in search of scriptures, quotes, or songs that encompass those traits.

This year, I’ve chosen the hymn “More Holiness Give Me” as my year-long focus. Michael will be in trainings for anywhere from 5-9 months of next year depending on how things play out. When Michael is gone for extended periods it’s hard on both the kids and me. We all get cranky, overtired, stressed, and lonely. As I was thinking about how much of next year will be spent with me as a single parent, I realized what I needed most in my life was a stronger relationship with God. The closer I am to Him, the better mom I am. And if I’m going to be doing more than 50% of 2021 without Michael, I need to make sure I’m doing it with the Lord.

Once I’ve picked out my year-long focus, I like to pick a power word that sums up that focus into a bite-sized package. The hymn I picked is all about becoming holier; it’s about gaining more trust, patience, hope, faith, etc. The one word that seemed to encapsulate that concept to me is “increase”. It can feel overwhelming to focus on so many different areas that need improvement, but what’s comforting about this hymn is that it isn’t saying, “make me perfect, God”. What it is saying is, “help me to increase these things in my life”. I chose “increase” as my power word because I want to focus on increasing in my trust, patience, hope, faith, etc. rather than on perfecting my trust, patience, hope, faith, etc. The truth is, I can’t perfect those things. Not on my own. That’s why I have a Savior. He is what makes those things perfect. All I can do is increase.

SET MONTHLY GOALS – I’ve never had much success with year-long goals. That’s why I like to choose a year-long focus instead. It allows me the freedom to readjust my goals from month to month based on my progress towards my overall focus for the year. This also takes something overwhelming (like a year-long goal) and turns it into something manageable (working on a goal for 30 days). At the end of every month, starting in December, I set a goal that helps me work towards my year-long focus during the following month. If I feel like I succeed at that goal in January, I pick a new goal for February. But if I need to recommit to my January goal, I can. The flexibility this provides is really liberating. It allows me to work on what I really need to be working on, instead of focusing on a goal that might have sounded good in December but feels irrelevant by June.

CREATE A 2021 PRAYER JOURNAL – I love using a prayer journal! If you haven’t already, you can read a more in-depth post about my prayer journal here. The reason I include this as part of my 2021 preparation is because having a prayer journal set up and ready for the new year helps me feel like I’m prioritizing time for God. This is also a way to document my progress in my monthly goals and year-long focus. When I write down and then pray for help accomplishing my goals, I’m able to look back throughout the year and see how far I’ve come, the areas in which I’m succeeding, and the ways in which I need to improve. You can use a regular diary for this if that feels better suited to your needs. To me, sitting down to journal is overwhelming. But since I pray morning and night anyway, taking a little extra time before I do so to write down my thoughts doesn’t feel like a big stretch. I design my own prayer journal and have it professionally printed. This year, I’m including a section at the beginning of each month to document what my goals are. If you use a regular notebook for your prayer journal, you can do the same thing! It’s a multipurpose tool that helps break down your yearly focus into monthly, weekly, and even daily efforts.

If I’m completely honest, 2021 scares me a little. Michael will be gone for most of it, and I may end up having to sell a house and oversee a cross-country move by myself. All while homeschooling a 5-year-old, wrangling a 3-year-old, and teaching a baby to crawl, walk, talk, and eat solid foods. Yikes! Not to mention, there’s still a pandemic going on, which will continue to play a part in how stable my life is or isn’t. I’m sure that everyone can look ahead to next year and feel a little bit uncertain and overwhelmed. We live in a crazy world, and 2020 has taught us that the most unexpected things can happen out of nowhere. But God has said, “if ye are prepared ye shall not fear” (Doctrine and Covenants 38:30). So don’t wait! Take a little time this month to prepare for next year. You can’t stop the crazy things from happening, but you can set yourself up for success by having a flexible plan and some powerful, positive things to focus on and ground you during the year. We got this! 2021, here we come.