My Biggest Lesson in 2023

End of Year Reflection

Overall, I’m proud of myself. Having two young children with no family around to support us in Portugal is difficult, but I feel like I’ve been a wonderful mom! This is what I am most proud of! I want to share my biggest lesson in 2023 and just maybe, you will have an “AHA” moment too…

I started the year with no idea what I could do for work. How would I be able to earn an income from my passion? I knew exactly what I wanted my future to look like, but what job was I going to do to get me there? My ultimate goal has always been about having freedom of time. Imagine being able to spend my days exactly how I wanted… Reading and writing about topics that I love.

It’s safe to say that 2023 brought me clarity. I have never been so sure of what I wanted to do and how I was going to get there.

Another big change I have noticed is that I have moved from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset. I am not exactly sure how this happed but I think it is mainly due to my meditation and visualization practice, which I upgraded by investing in an amazing program. Reading “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant” also had a profound effect on me as I read it at the same time I gained clarity on my goals. Reading the “The Almanack” convinced me that it was possible to achieve them.

This is huge! These 2 things (clarity + abundance mindset) could mean that 2023 is the most important year of my life, career-wise. Although I did not achieve every single one of my goals, 2023 set me on the trajectory towards my dream life. It gave me direction and the discipline I need to achieve my goals.

I was extremely focused on my goals this year, however, I didn’t achieve them all. Recently, I had an “AHA” moment and could understand why…

I could not believe how little time I had to work on my business after having our second child. Every day I would complain and confirm to myself, and others, how I never had enough time to get what I needed done. And guess what happened…. I didn’t have enough time.

In 2024, I will let go of this. My ultimate life goal is to have freedom of time, but multiple times throughout the day I re-confirm how I don’t have enough of it. This is a MAJOR conflict between my present and my future. How am I ever going to achieve having lots of free time in my day if I don’t believe it? I believe this is what slowed down my manifestation process.

With this aside, I still feel like I have made a lot of progress towards becoming the person I strive to be.

The changes I made (and stuck to) in 2023 were:

• A lot more reading
• Much less doom scrolling
• Getting dressed well for the day
• Hosting more friends in our home
• Implementing a powerful meditation practice
• Working on my blog and business every single day
• Enjoying a herbal tea in the evenings when reading, instead of watching Netflix

2023 taught me these life-changing lessons:

• I figured out my passion
• I defined my goals and purpose, with clarity
• I transformed from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset
• I became aware of an inner conflict that is preventing me from living my dream life

I am so excited to bring these lessons and experiences into 2024. I have revised my goals, added a couple of new ones and crossed off the ones I’ve achieved. My goals this year have not changed too much. I believe this is a good sign because it shows that I still desire the same thing which is what happens when you work backwards.

What I mean by that is you should set and define your goals after you have crafted a vision of your ideal lifestyle. It is impossible to know how to get to your destination if you don’t know where you are going.

I like to think in decades, not days. Will I still want to do this thing in 10 years? Will this thing work in 10 years time? If it won’t, then I will not pursue it.

Sometimes we overestimate what can happen in 1 year, but we underestimate what can happen in 5 and 10 years.

I’ll leave you with this:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the things you did. So throw off the bowlines. sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain