The start of a new year shouts at us to make way for fresh opportunities, planning, setting, and accomplishing new goals.

My inbox has been inundated with planning, preparing, and calendaring courses for the past month. Just in case I forget that this is the long-term planning season. I’m feeling significant pressure to make something new and amazing happen in this next year and the decade ahead.

I am a big fan of looking ahead and setting goals. I LOVE to get a brand spanking new calendar, fill the pages with all the possibilities to come (and even create a day-long workshop to help others plan!). It’s a time I can be thoughtful and specific about changes I want to make. Ones that will increase the satisfaction and fulfillment in my life. It’s a lovely in-between time when I can get creative and dream my heart out and not yet face the actual deadlines or details of accomplishing these goals.

So, if you’re feeling excited, energized, and enthusiastic about planning and getting into action this new year, awesome.

If you’re not, that’s okay, too. And this may be why.

But first, let me say that not wanting to host your own planning party right now may have nothing to do with having ADHD. It may have nothing to do with procrastination, overwhelm, disorganization, or wanting to live in the moment.

Just because Julius Caesar thought the first day of January was a good time to mark the beginning of a new year, it, unfortunately, doesn’t align well with our internal human seasonal calendar.

January in the northern hemisphere is in the middle of winter. AKA…cold! A time when nature, the grass, leaves, and flowers hide beneath a blanket of white or hardened earth. And I’m wondering if, similarly, this is a time for us to be drawn inside toward our center. A natural season for introspection, self-reflection, and restoration. A time of needing to let nature work its inner transformational magic for what’s coming next. A preparing… “cocooning” of sorts.

And boy, oh boy, am I feeling it!

For weeks now, I’ve been noticing a quiet stirring. I need to turn inward before plowing ahead and filling my calendar with resolutions, goals, and to-dos. To take just a bit more time to ask myself what I want the new year and decade to bring.

And maybe you have noticed it too.

This is a sense of wanting to be alone and being inclined to stay inside. To be introspective, read, research, covered in my down comforter or heated blanket. And when I dare to venture outside, I am wrapped in layers of coats, scarves, gloves, and lined boots. I love the outdoors, but recently I have preferred to watch it from inside. I’m not depressed or lonely. I want to spend time alone and think. To be purposeful and prepare for the growth I want in my life. Not quite ready to plan the minute details yet.

Technology combined with our stone-age human brain makes it easy to forget that we are part of this cycle of rest, transformation, and rebirth. Yet, contrarily, we try making plans for what’s to come in the time of winter. A time of natural “cocooning” introspection, rest, and preparation for the transformation that will occur shortly.

So, if you, like me and are finding your focus turning inward towards self-awareness and discovery, rest and rejuvenation right now, that’s OK too.

This may be when you need to prepare and nourish yourself before laying down all those New Year’s (or new decade’s) resolutions.

Some things you can do now to prepare yourself for setting goals and resolutions that are right for you include:

• Whenever possible, permit yourself to slow down.
• Reading books that inspire you to become more self-aware of what’s important to you.
• Get clear on what your core values are.
• Journal about what you are noticing right now in your life to gain insight into what you want the next year to bring.
• Write about what your dream day would be a year from now. Use this to begin exploring areas you might want to focus on in the new year.
• Rest and relax in whatever way rejuvenates you. I find myself taking a lot of hot baths this time of year.
• Allow more time for sleep. Sleep consolidates all your ideas and thoughts and keeps your body healthy.
• Choose movies that fill you with joy, inspiration, and optimism.
• Listen to music that fills your soul.
• Tap into your creativity that has been ignored for way too long.
• Journal about what your perfect day five years from now will be like. Consider what needs to change between now and then for it to happen.
• Spend as much time alone as feels right for you.
• Engage with others that respect this reflective and introspective time.
• Set a specific date when you can take all this preparation work and put it into a plan.

This time of year may have you already creating plans, goals, and resolutions. Or, it may be a time to soak in a bit more energy that will propel and sustain you once you burst forth into the world again with your goals and plans to pursue your dreams. Either way, remember, YOU ARE AMAZING! So, happy New Year and wishes for a decade of a life you love.

Want to read more? If you’re feeling the New Year’s energy, check out:

• Marie Kondo Your ADHD
• Fun Ways to Get Organized with ADHD
• Strategic Business Planning Made Easy 

And if you’re not, check out:

• Why Preparation, Not Planning, is the Key to Success
• Goals for People with ADHD
• Learn the Skill of “Pulling Over” with ADHD Overwhelm
• I Hope You Express Your Amazing ADHD Self