First of all, how are you? I hope you are safe and doing well.
It seems that Covid and its variants have caught us off-guard once again as we entered the new year.
I was hoping to come home without any issue after more than three months in the U.S. The number of Covid cases was so low in the Philippines (at least, during most of December) that I was looking forward to going out and seeing my friends again. But the cases multiplied exponentially and Manila was on alert level 3 once again. After I arrived in early January, it took me 2 weeks to see my family. I had to quarantine at a hotel for six days and most of them had to isolate because some tested positive or were exposed.
It’s only the first month of the year but it feels like 2021 was such a long time ago. I have been anxious since late December, when I had a hard time finding a lab that could release my Covid test results in time for my flight. Labs were closing because of medical workers testing positive. Eventually, I was tested but the result was released beyond the committed time due to the volume of tests. And then there’s the entire flight and the quarantine period when I had to wait again to confirm if I’m negative and can be released from the hotel.
It’s so exhausting just writing about my whole flight going home, but it seems to be a portent of things to come. I don’t think we will ever go back to the “normal” that we all aspired for when all this blew up. It’s also another reminded that we can only prepare so much and we really have to expect the unexpected (most especially at this time). Things will never turn out the way we exactly envisioned them to be.
That said, I still decided to go through my usual start-of-the-year ritual or routine this 2022 just to give me a sense of grounding or balance. Let me share with you some of the things I do (or I just started doing) at the start of each year:
- Choosing my “one word”. I do this every year with my small groups at church. At the end of the year, we will update each other if we were able to apply or experience this one word in our lives. Last year, my word was “growth”. This year, it’s “laban” or “fight”. I chose the Tagalog word “laban” because it is the slogan for my presidential bet, and I’m hoping and fervently praying that she will win during the 2022 elections. I also chose this word to acknowledge that we are in a spiritual battle, and every soldier needs sufficient armor and training. I feel like I have been complacent and kept my guard down in terms of dealing with my personal struggles. Many times, I would give in to what I wanted versus what would glorify God, and justify my acts by pointing to a global pandemic that has been causing me so much stress and anxiety. This year, I want to face my spiritual battles head-on, strengthen my spiritual anchor in Christ and abide by Him to ensure that I’m not easily swayed by any storm that comes my way. I’ll be writing more about this later.ย
- Joining the church-wide prayer and fasting. I think I’ve been doing this since I joined CCF. We normally allot one week during the first or second week of January to pray and fast together as a church. We will pray about everything – the church, the country, our government, the family, different groups or sectors. This gives me the opportunity to list down my prayer requests for the year, and to pray about my goals and plans and my personal faith journey. This becomes the start-off point for my daily prayers for the entire year. I also use this time to pray for family and friends. I truly enjoy this time reflecting God’s word and talking to Him one-on-one. There’s also comfort knowing that there are a lot of other people praying for me and my concerns.
- Reading and going through the exercises in Michael Hyatt’s book, “Your Best Year Ever”. It’s a short and simple book, but it’s very comprehensive. It encourages you to reflect on the past year and tie all loose ends. It also allows you to discover your limiting beliefs and replace them with helpful and objective truths, and it gives you the tools to formulate realistic goals for each aspect of your life. It has a holistic approach that mentions each area – spiritual, ministry, relational, intellectual, vocational, avocational, physical, and financial. I would answer the quiz to determine my current life score just to check how I am in all aspects. I scored lower this year than I did last year – maybe because I was hoping to be far off now than I was before, but I feel that I wasn’t able to meet that standard.
- Choosing the books to read for the year. This is something new I’m starting this year. Admittedly, I get more excitement from buying books than from reading them, and I forget a lot of the books I bought throughout the year. So now I have a lot of physical and digital books that I haven’t finished yet. I’ve decided to pick out a bunch of books this year and placed them on a prominent area on my desk so I’m reminded to read regularly (and not to buy more).
Committing to take care of my physical – and this time, mental – health. Like 90% of the population, I make a commitment at the start of each year to diet and exercise more. In January 2020, I enrolled at a spinning and yoga studio hoping to add more movement in my life (we all know how that one ended). Being more conscious about one’s health may be more difficult at this time when we’re at home most of the time, but this is something that I want to work on this year. Another aspect of health that I want to focus on is my mental health. Last year, I went through a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy training, and it was an eye opener for me. It helped me understand how my thoughts affect my emotions and actions, and how I should learn to master my thoughts to control my actions. The past two years have given me a lot of reasons to be anxious. And a few years before that, I went through periods of extreme worry which affected me physically. So this year, I want to master my thoughts and strengthen my core to prepare me for anything that could happen.
What are your new year rituals?๐
