Tina 00:00:00 Hey guys, I'm excited about today's podcast. Today I am going to be sharing with you five ways to have an epic New Year focusing on your passions, your happiness, your peace, and your joy. Let's get into it. You're listening to the Soul Aligned Self-care podcast. I'm your host, Tina Stinson, and I had a stroke at the age of 39 from stress and burnout that shook my world. Now I'm laying it all out. The deep level self-care practices and mindset shifts that I needed that kept me healthy, balanced, and thriving. Join me in this intimate space as we explore healing, resilience, and the soul's journey to alignment. This is where real conversations about deep level self-care happen. Let's get into it. Hey guys. Welcome back to the Soul Alliance Healthcare podcast. I am so excited to get into today's topic. And I'm not gonna lie, I've seen a lot of people doing podcasts like this. Like 510 New Ways to Increase Your Business, ten New Ways to Have the Best Year Ever.
Tina 00:01:18 And I've been really, really focused on this this year of doing this in a more relaxed fashion, more aligned fashion than normal. Usually I'm like always on that bandwagon of setting goals and getting right into it, and it never feels right. I never really quite get any type of momentum until March, and I decided that this year is like a year where I'm going to just like, listen to my body, listen to what I'm feeling, and kind of stay more aligned with the way I want to move forward. And so I'm just going to go with the fact that March is usually the time where I feel empowered and like ready to hit the ground running. And so I'm not forcing myself now to like, pushing myself to start working on my goals until then. Now it feels a little. I'm not gonna lie, I feel like a little off because the majority of the people and just society in general are all like after their goals. And as a coach, I feel like a lot of people expect me to be doing certain things, launching new programs and doing new things like that.
Tina 00:02:30 and I'm trying not to get like a little bit of FOMO. and I'm trying to stay aligned with what feels right. but I have to say, it's not the easiest thing to do. And so I wanted to do this podcast because I'm going to give you five ways to have, like, the most epic year to start creating the most epic year. Right. And it doesn't mean that you have to like, start setting, like doing doing the dos right now, the shoulds. It just means we're planning, we're dreaming, and I think this is the perfect time to do that as we go into winter, just like any type of plant. Right. So I'm very connected to nature. I think you guys know that. And so if you watch what a plant does, how it, you know, it dies off in the winter and, but the roots and the ground have to be supported depending on the type of plant. Right. and then once the sun comes out more and, you know, it warms up a little bit, it starts to grow and then it makes this beautiful plant and then it starts to flower and it makes this big creation and say, it's a vegetable garden and creates the fruit.
Tina 00:03:40 And so it works up to that moment, but it has that moment of rest in between. It's not just like constantly going, going, going, making flowers, making fruit, making flowers, making fruit. I don't think that's good for any living thing. And so, I'm choosing to like, honor that time in the winter where we're supposed to, like, have that downtime, have that healing time, have that like planning, dreaming, resting phase and going deep into it. So here's some of the ways that you could do that. So the first one is, start to define like your core values and your passions. And when I talk about core values, I think, I think of it differently, I think, than other people, because when I, when I do core value work with my clients and with myself, I focus on all the areas of my life. So say, you know, health, fitness, money, career, spirituality, self-development, all those things. There's all these different areas of your life and whatever's important to you.
Tina 00:04:44 And just defining in each one of those areas what is what is my what is my what are my core values in those areas. So what's important to me? What do I want to experience. Right. And I look at these every year and redefine them every year because you change every year. And so it's like looking into those areas. And I have a workshop that you could do. it gives you like a couple of questions, like journaling prompts to help you work this out. I'll put a link to that workshop in the show notes so that you can grab it if you want. It's really, really inexpensive. I think it's like 20 bucks, but, anyway, knowing defining your core values and all these different areas of your life is so important. the way I think of it is you have some place where you're starting off, where you are right now, and there's always some place you want to be. It's just like human nature to want to better yourself. Expand. It doesn't mean anything's wrong with where you are.
Tina 00:05:42 It just means it's human nature to want to expand. And so you have where you are right now, and you have a place where you want to be. And in order to get to where you want to be, you kind of have to know where that is, okay? You can't just say, I want to be better. I want to expand. Okay? You have to have some kind of a definition. Just like when you use a GPS, you have a starting address and you have an ending address. You may not know all the terms in between, but you have defined those two places so that you can get there. And it's the same thing with with life. So defining your core values and passions really is part of your inner compass and figuring out what direction you want to go in. They guide you toward what truly matters, and it keeps you grounded and aligns with your yourself. What makes you unique? So, defining these things, you know, think about I mean, you could grab the workshop, but really, I want you to think about, you know, all the things that are important to you in those areas, but also think about the activities that make you lose track of time when you're in a state of flow? Like I always feel that way when I'm gardening.
Tina 00:06:58 When I'm running. what do you feel deeply passionate about and what values do you hold that shape, your decisions and all the areas of your life? So like in the area of, let's say fitness, you know, what's truly important to me this year is going to be completely different to other people. You know, I'm a middle aged woman, and so I'm not looking to, like, kill myself. I know that that doesn't work for my age group and someone who's in like perimenopause or menopause. And so I'm looking to calm my nervous system. So I use yoga and breathwork. I'm looking for strength training, which is really important right now. I'm looking for also yoga. I need to stretch, I need to it's also strength training. and it's also calms my nervous system. So those three things are my focus. That's what's important to me. That's the direction I want to move into. I also want to do more, breathwork. I want to do more yoga nidra, I want it there's certain things that I want to do.
Tina 00:08:03 Now, if you talk to me ten years ago, it would have been completely different. I was like marathon running. And so it's about defining what's important to you in those areas. When you're looking at, say, career or maybe you own a business. So what's important to you? Maybe it's freedom. Maybe it's about, you know, working less but working smarter. Maybe it's about having more control over your schedule. What's important to you when it comes to relationships? What do you want to experience in those relationships? Do you want to have more relationships with more people, or do you want to look at the relationships you have and go deeper within those relationships? So that's what this is about. It's about to finding, now, one of the reasons why this matters is when your goals align are aligned with your core values and your passions. Okay. Achieving them feels joyful and natural and more in flow. This alignment ensures your efforts are very meaningful but also sustainable to you. So if you're focusing on something that's really not important to you, maybe it's something that society views as valuable, or maybe it's something your family used as value.
Tina 00:09:16 But but to you, it isn't. It's not going to be sustainable. So it's really important to align yourself with those core values. So doing this work now before you really are hopping into the do part, the should part, is really important and it really sets you up for success. Another thing is to set goals that, spark joy that make you happy. Traditional goal setting can feel kind of like stiff and a little bit overwhelming. So instead, like focus on creating things that feel Exciting, aligned and joyful. Okay? And I know that we all have these things that we have to do in life. We can't always focus on, you know, being joyful and passionate all the time. But, I mean, this is my goal because I do believe it's our purpose in life as human beings to follow our joy. It is sometimes hard to find and focus on our joy all the time when society has it expects us, so much of us that doesn't seem natural and aligned. So we have all these societal expectations that we can't really completely remove ourselves from.
Tina 00:10:30 And I completely acknowledge that. But you can focus on heading in that direction. So I'm inviting you to start start to focus on and set goals, aligning yourself with what brings you joy, contentment. Okay. And begin to bring yourself closer to spending more of your time doing these things. You know, it happens. You know, it doesn't happen overnight. I've been doing this for years, and I'm getting to a point where I really enjoy myself. Most of the time, when you focus on and follow your joy, the things that are supposed to be in your life tend to find you. You automatically attract those things. Things flow and they work out for you in a better way because you're aligned. So allow and trust. When you do this for yourself, then things will work out for the better. It's kind of like when you declutter a space in your house when it's all cluttered. Things don't always like run smoothly. You know you're tripping over things. You can't find anything. When you align everything, everything flows better.
Tina 00:11:33 It's the same thing with the energy in your life. It works the same exact way. That's why decluttering space feels so good, because it really has an effect on your energy. It's it's connected to the energy. So write down three goals that genuinely excite you. Use language that inspires you. Like, I'm going to create a space for weekly creative writing. I'm going to plan a peaceful weekend retreat to recharge. I'm not going to, put that pressure on myself to be doing things, experiences. I'm just going to rest. And I'm actually planning to do a retreat at the end of the year in the fall. That's going to be just this. So keep your ears open for that one. I'm going to do like a complete respiratory. It's got going to be I'm going to learn this, I'm going to do this. It's going to be about rest and relaxation and like just healing, like recharging. you could also, you know, focus on dedicating some time each week a specific amount of time.
Tina 00:12:37 It could be an hour, it could be two hours to do a hobby. And if you don't have a hobby, find a new one. Painting, I don't know, crafting, gardening, whatever it is, find something. goals that are rooted in joy are more motivating. They're easier to commit to because they're fueled by what you love, not external expectations. Like I just talked about. Number three prioritize peaceful routines. Peace does not just happen in your life. It's something that you create intentionally. So if you're not experiencing peace in your life, you have some work to do. Your daily routines are an opportunity to infuse peace into your life. I can't emphasize this enough. You get what you create. What do you want to experience in your life? Ask yourself that question. These things don't just happen for you. Well, sometimes they do. Sometimes things just run smoothly. But mostly we create our own experience. So we get we get to create our own experience, which is kind of cool.
Tina 00:13:48 It's really kind of cool that you get to do that. You do have some control over that. So what do you want to create? Establish like morning and evening rituals that nurture your well-being. So even if you have to get up five minutes, five minutes earlier to do something that adds peace into your life, then do it. I used to do this on purpose when my kids were little, just so I would have some time of peace. So starting the day with maybe a five minute meditation, or a gratitude practice, or a journaling practice, closing off your day with like a common cup of tea reflection like on something good that happened that day. So ending your day with gratitude. Also, even some beginning your day with some movement, ending your day with some light, stretching. Whatever you know seems peaceful to you. So you have to find your own groove. So when your routines support your inner peace. Oh, also, before I get into that last part, I love taking a break in the afternoon.
Tina 00:14:48 So like, if I, if I didn't sleep well the night before, which happens quite often. in the afternoon around 2:00, I feel beat. So like I'll stop. and I know that not everybody could do this. I work for myself so I could do this. So I know that that's a privilege that I have. But I'll stop and I'll do like a yoga nidra meditation, which, they consider to be like a deep rest meditation. It's almost like sleeping. You get like, the same effect. or sometimes I'll just close my eyes. Sometimes I'll have a cup of tea or a cup of coffee and I'll read part of my book. I love taking a moment in the middle of the day. It feels so kind of like I'm getting away with something that I shouldn't be doing. It's really funny. so I love doing that. So it's not just about the way you start your day and finish your day. It's about what you do during the day. You know, taking that time to really, like, remove yourself from your work and have a nice lunch if you can do that.
Tina 00:15:49 So, and if you can't do that now you're saying to me, I can't do that, I don't get I don't get to take lunch at work. I'm going to go back to like, you get what you create. So how can you create that? How can you start to take lunch at work unless you're, you know, I think legally you have to have breaks at work and lunch at work. So it's like, how can you get that back? So when your routines start to support your like inner peace, you're better equipped to handle the challenges that come up. So if you've noticed like if when you're really, really tired, and you're not getting the rest, you're not having any fun in life. You don't handle those challenges very well. You get very grumpy. Right? But when you're, you know, you support yourself on a daily basis with these routines, you're better equipped to handle these challenges when they come up and you stay aligned with your intentions. Okay. Number four, celebrate small wins.
Tina 00:16:50 Don't wait until you've achieved that. Like really, really big milestone to celebrate. Every step forward deserves recognition. And I think that we don't do this enough, especially women. We do not celebrate enough. this is one of the things that we do in my new Aligned and Design Vision Board workbook that I have. It's free right now. You can grab it, right on my website. Tanya stenson.com. I'll put a link in the show notes so you can head over there. But I love the idea. also, one of the action steps that I'm going to give you is a celebration jar, because then it's a surprise. So if you put a bunch of little celebrations that you could do and you put it on a piece of paper, you fold it up and you put it in a jar, and whenever you have like a small win, you just grab one and you celebrate in that way. So if you want some inspiration, grab the workbook I just talked about, because I think I give you 25 different ways that you could celebrate, but you really have to focus on what lights you up.
Tina 00:17:53 So these are things that like me up. just to give you an idea, but you really got to focus on the things that light you up. That would be a celebration to you. So create that celebration jar. I think that that sounds like a really fun way to do it. Celebrating small wins keeps you motivated. It keeps your momentum going. It gives you those wins along the way so you don't feel like you're not getting anyway. It reminds you that progress is worth acknowledging, no matter how small. Number five, and the last one infuse fun and playfulness into your goals and your everyday life. Life is meant to be enjoyed. That's why we're here. We're not here to work ourselves to death for the majority of our life. I mean, when you think about it, we work from like 18 and now they're talking about raising the retirement age, which is absolute bullshit. I just think it's ridiculous to work that long. And then when you do get to retire, you're old. Sometimes you're not feeling well.
Tina 00:18:57 You're not in the best shape. I just think you need to enjoy your life along the way, especially if they are making it. So we have to work until we die. I refuse to do that. That's why I work for myself. But there's a lot of people who are stuck in that. That, societal. I don't know what you want to call it. Oh, my God, I can't think of a good way to say it without. It's just a shit show, as far as I'm concerned. But anyway, life is meant to be enjoyed when your goals are infused with fun and joy and the things that bring you joy, the journey becomes just as fulfilling as the destination. And I mean, we've all heard that saying before, it's not about the destination, it's about the journey along the way. So why would we not want to make everything fun? Why are we so serious? Or at the very least, we would want to make it peaceful, right? This should always be our goal.
Tina 00:20:00 This should be our top goal. As a matter of fact, my top goal this year is to follow my joy. And when I'm not doing that, to calm myself out because we we do that. We're programmed not to do that. We're programmed to put our heads down and work. Right. Work work work work work. My goal is to, like, reverse that and follow the joy and infuse that into my day, even when I'm working. So start to focus on adding joy and peace into every little thing you do. Like, how could you add just a little bit of joy into everything? This starts to shift your energy. It changes everything. So add an element of play into your goals. For example, turn like if you were going to declutter a closet. So make a decluttering playlist. Make it into a party. Like if you're going to do it with your family, turn it into a party. You know, have a meal, have a celebration. What are you going to do with all this stuff? Like make it fun? do a vision boarding party, grab my workbook, have a bunch of friends grab it and turn it into, like, a whole night where you hang out and you do it together.
Tina 00:21:13 challenge yourself to try one new activity each month. I would say even more than that. I would say each week, each month is not enough. fun and play. Elevate your vibration, making it easier to attract and manifest the things that you want to bring into your life. Plus, joy is a goal itself. Just like I said, that's my goal for 2025. Follow the joy. So an epic New Year, you know, because the title of this podcast is Five Ways to Have an Epic New Year, right? So an epic New Year doesn't come from checking off a list of resolutions. It comes from aligning with your aligning your actions with your passions, embracing joy, and cultivating peace in your life. So let this year be the one where you prioritize what truly matters to you your happiness, your dreams, and your unique path. You have everything you need within you to create a year filled with passion, peace, and purpose. So start small, celebrate often and follow what lights you up.
Tina 00:22:18 Follow your joy. So, if you want to grab that workbook, the link will be in the show notes. Or you could just go to my website, which is Tina Stinson comm, Tina Stinson comm, and you can grab it for free until February 15th, 2025. Okay. Love you guys. Bye.
