By: Imani Harris
“Can we speak in flowers ? It’ll be easier for me to understand…” – Nayyirah Waheed
As the year slowly winds down, I find the last few months of the year to be among the most crucial tests of your well-being and measures of your growth.
You might feel as if you didn’t do enough during the year or that you didn’t complete all that you had set for yourself. Maybe you’ve concluded that 2017 was one of the worst years of your life. Even if this is the case, the last leg of the year should be used as a method for reflection, evaluation, planning, and celebration. While your year may not have unfolded in ways you had hoped, this is the best time to look back at what you didn’t do, what you did accomplish, and write goals to implement them into your plans for the upcoming year.
After this, do not sit and dwell on what you didn’t do, and what wasn’t done. The rest of the year should be used to celebrate yourself. You made it through yet another year, and that’s always worth praising. As the holiday season approaches, this is the season of giving, spreading love, happiness, and joy. While in the midst of spreading the spirit around, don’t forget to ultimately treat, and honor yourself.
Write down a list of all things you are proud of yourself for accomplishing. Make sure the first point on your list is that you made it through yet another year. You continued. You lived on. You made it. Just that alone is worth celebrating.
Treating yourself is one the most essential components of self-love. Gifting doesn’t always have to be materialistic and shiny. I have always loved flowers, and view them as one of the most beautiful, and calming forces of nature. I often buy myself flowers as a way of showing myself love. Watching them grow, and bloom ultimately reminds myself of my journey of becoming my ultimate, confident self. I see myself within those petals.
Use this holiday season to reflect on yourself, and celebrate your journey. With all the love and gifting in the year, please make sure some of it is directed towards yourself.