photo by gabriela hansen

Happy New Year! I truly hope this finds you all warm and well, with hearts and bellies full from the decadence of time spent with your loved ones. I choose the word “decadence” because slowing down to “just be” seems so rare these days, so indulgent. Reading books. Going for walks. Playing board games. Cooking together. Snuggling by the fire. Taking time to talk and laugh and dream. It’s decadent. And the truth is, I haven’t quite had my fill yet.

I’ve always believed that the best way to be a leader is to lead with your life. In that spirit, I’ve decided to take a few more days off. I know I promised I’d get back to sharing irresistible inspiration with you as of tomorrow. The truth is, I savour with anticipation the promise of diving back into design, food, health, beauty and fashion inspiration with you soon! But for now, I am going to indulge in more reflection and rest.

I know this is a choice not all of us can make as the New Year starts and the demands of work thrust most of us back to our routines tomorrow. I appreciate the luxury that I am afforded as I take the time to just be with my son until he goes back to school on January 7th. But I’d like to take this internal shift back into my regular routine as well.

This year I plan to listen to my instincts carefully. I am aiming for authenticity. I don’t believe in resolutions or “naming” my year with a word. But I do believe in reflecting and moving forward with intention whenever I’m given the opportunity to pause. So I’m going to take time over the next few days to further reflect and curate my thoughts and intentions for this New Year.

The truth is, I may not do it perfectly. There are books on my reading list I may not get to, plans that may not get perfectly architected, and I may still be riding the edge of intention mixed with a generous dose of fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants by the time January 7th hits. But that might just be what is actually authentic in the end. In fact, it might just leave enough room for inspiration to strike and for beauty to be discovered in the everyday.

In the reflecting I’ve done thus far, I’ve realized that I am learning to leave room – this week and in the year ahead – for process. The process of becoming. The process of thinking and dreaming and digesting and designing. The process of creating things that matter.

I will fail. I will get swept up in the rush of life and forget to make room for the process. I will get caught in the undertow of the expectations of others and the expectations I have for myself. But I hope to refine and reshape my rhythms so that my process becomes more authentic. More intentional. More beautiful. And I hope that in that process, I will inspire some of you, too. Maybe we can help each other.

On this first day of 2013, my wish is that we would all drink deeply of this decadent opportunity to reflect and “just be” as we consider the process of becoming and all the possibility it holds.

Happy New Year!

xo
s.