With the triple whammy of the solstice, my birthday, and the new calendar year, it’s hard for me to avoid the urge to reflect on the year and to set an intention for what I want to create next.

Because I’m naturally inclined towards looking at the next mountain to climb, I sometimes need to force myself to look backward: to see what’s happened, to reflect, and to let it sink in. So what was 2017 like for me?

Pretty productive.

I:

• Produced 49 episodes of my podcast, A Healthy Curiosity, and garnered tens of thousands of downloads
• Shared my message as a guest expert on 25 podcasts, online health summits, on the radio, and at a conference
• Earned yet another coaching certification (in Yoga Health Coaching)
• Led two rounds of my self-care group coaching program, Level Up Your Life, as well as two rounds of Basics of Chinese Medicine
• Supported hundreds of patients in over 1000 sessions
• Practiced intermittent fasting (at least 13-16 hours between dinner and breakfast)
• Made my karaoke debut in front of hundreds of my most esteemed holistic wellness colleagues
• Mentored an associate (who, sadly, is moving away)
• Spent two weeks in Italy to celebrate my (step)-daughter’s high school graduation and my (step)-son’s completion of middle school

The highlight of my professional year was witnessing the transformations I helped catalyze for members of my Level Up tribe. They grew more energized, focused, more comfortable in their bodies and confident. Their pain levels dropped, along with their weight. But it was the profounder internal shifts that blew me away: the kinder inner dialogues, increased self-compassion, showing up differently in the world. (Continue reading on the blog.) It felt amazing and phenomenal to have created a space for this kind of evolution.

So how did I get this all done?

In order to have enough consistent energy and clarity, I had to keep putting self-care at the top of my to-do list. I meditated daily, rarely missed a day of exercise, made time to prepare whole foods that work for my body most days – stuff I’ve been doing for a long time.

What was new this year was prioritizing sleep: getting ruthless about bedtime, not going back to work on the computer after dinner, and letting myself wind down at night. Liquid melatonin was a godsend. Tempting as it may be to think more productivity means more work, that logic is actually dead wrong: Productivity goes right out the window if you’re underslept, stressed, not oxygenating your brain, and eating like crap.)

I plugged the energy leaks. After 41 years, I’m finally realizing that I can’t do it all, so I did some radical prioritization. This meant saying no to opportunities that I would have really loved, in favor of really loving my experience of what I was choosing to do.

I invested time and money in myself: I spent over $15,000 on my continuing education, between courses in functional medicine, hiring a coach to learn how to better coach, to learning how to reach the people who most need what I have to offer. Is that a massive chunk of my annual earnings? Absolutely – the biggest.

Is it worth more than a fancy car or a cruise or anything else I could imagine investing in? Without a doubt. In fact, I challenge myself every year to invest in myself and my health more than I did the year before.

I surrounded myself with people who are also on a growth path: fellow mission-driven leaders, entrepreneurs, podcasters, medical practitioners and holistic health coaches who are going beyond the clinic model. Most of these people I see once a year in person, but connect with several times a week online. And of course facilitating my own dynamic groups meant I was connecting with inspiring people on a near-daily basis.

If we’re the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with, it’s important to actively seek out the people who bring out the best in us, who are further along the path than we are and who can help us up our game.

So for 2018, how do you want to feel? What do you want to create?

Here, let’s do this together.

Grab a pen and this free worksheet and I’ll walk you through an exercise similar to one we did at my recent workshop. Because “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Antione de Saint-Exupery

Since you’ve read all the way to the end, I have a gift for you: A guide to help you pair your how-you-want-to-feel with a resonant essential oil. Download your free guide now.

If you’d like support on your journey, I’d LOVE to help you. Could 2018 be your year to feel how you want to fee?

Happy New Year! Cheers!

-Brodie