With Intention And Ease

Hi! It’s sixteen days into the new year, how’s it going? How are those resolutions coming along? I’m guessing you probably hit the ground running, like T-Pain lol. Fired up, “starting the year strong”, only to find yourself out of breath halfway through January. Sound familiar?

Too Much Too Soon 🏃🏾‍♀️💨

I get wanting to give it your all, right from the start. You’re motivated, and maybe your inspiration comes from wanting to prove to yourself (and maybe to others) that you’ve got what it takes.

But truth is, trying to do everything all at once isn’t sustainable. Athletes warm up for several reasons, but it’s mostly because if you don’t, you run the risk of getting injured. Same applies to starting the year at full speed, without pacing yourself, if you’re not careful, it might lead to setbacks or a complete burnout before the first quarter of the year is over.

Consistency 🗝️

So, instead of rushing to do everything perfectly or all at once, why not focus on something more sustainable, “consistency”. After all, it’s not about how fast you start, but how steadily you can keep going. And consistency works best when it’s paired with intention.

People think consistency is about big, dramatic efforts, or always showing up at your best, it’s not. It’s about steady, intentional progress, even on the hard days.

Last year, I wanted to read more self help books. At first, my goal was to read 2 chapters a day, but I kept falling behind. It eventually became overwhelming, especially because I had other things to do, including school work. So I switched it up. I committed to reading 20 minutes of each day with off days within the week. By the end of the year, I had finished a couple of books on my TBR list.

Starting strong is not about going full throttle with no rest, it’s about beginning with gentleness and ease. It’s about warming up, building momentum, and setting a pace you can maintain.

Starting with Intention 🏋🏾‍♀️

Before diving in headfirst into all your goals, ask yourself:

• What are the most important goals I want to achieve this year?
• What small, consistent actions can I take each day to move closer to those goals?
• How can I prioritize my health and energy so I can stay the course?

Save your strength for the moments that matter most. These questions will help prevent you from exhausting yourself over things that don’t matter.

Take It One Step at a Time 💆🏾‍♀️

Let go of the urge to do it all and embrace steady progress. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone. Just focus on moving forward, one small, intentional step at a time, with plenty of rest along the way.

Finally,

One of my favorite instagrammers, David Larbi recently said: “The year is long, so starting it strong means intention, but with gentleness and ease” and I couldn’t agree more.

Pace yourself for the long run, the finish line isn’t going anywhere.

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Have you experienced burning out too early and too soon? I’d love to hear how you dealt with that in the comments! 💬👇

Have a great year!

Love, Tega 💗