2015 Reflection and The Year Ahead

Amanda Nicole SmithExperiences Leave a Comment

With the new year coming in fast, it’s time to dream up the future and reflect on the past.

Ideally this process happens more than just once a year. 😉

In 2015 career goals were in top focus for both Dominick and I. We were faced with many challenges and worked many long hard hours but through these challenges we grew substantially.

The Challenges and Overcoming Them

Just a few weeks ago I was starting to lose sight of the bigger picture, thinking I’ll never get to where I want to be. It seems so far away and there is so much more work to be done. 

 I started to catch myself thinking very negatively of myself, saying “another year has past and you’ve done a lot but you really haven’t come too far, have you? “. 

I am judging myself, comparing myself to others, and trying to persuade myself that all my efforts were worthless.

Life comes with polarity, we create loving thoughts and then we create fearful negative thoughts, it’s the reality of being a human on Earth. You can’t stop it. One of my favorite analogies of this polarity is “Once you find love, you fear loosing it.”

I have to remind myself to take a step back, reflect on what has worked and what hasn’t worked, make necessary changes, and just take things nice and slow, day by day. Opportunities will present themselves, just be patient and present.

The key is recognizing when you have these negative thoughts and realize they aren’t getting you any further. Embrace these thoughts, accept them for what they’re worth, then distract yourself from these thoughts with either a hobby you love or words of encouragement from people you love.

I remind myself, everything in life takes time. If we are too focused on the future or the past, and what we don’t have, or didn’t do; we start to lose more than just our mind, we start to lose our faith.

Faith is my number one value, faith that everything will work out, faith that we can do it, faith that we are in the right place at the right time to have the exact experience we were meant to have. Faith helps us through everything.

My Biggest Reminders Throughout 2015

These are not only reminders but daily challenges. We will always experience the exact opposite of these reminders, but it is only temporary. We must experience who we are not, to to remind us of who we truly are.

  • Have faith.
  • Be patient. Slow and steady.
  • Be thankful. Even for the little things.
  • Bring the love and life to everyone and everything you do.
  • We all create different perceptions of reality with our thoughts.
  • Nothing is perfect, unless we change our perception to see the perfection.
  • We’re all just doing the best we can. Don’t be the judge.
  • Everything in our life is there for reason and purpose. Take ownership.
  • Turn your monkey mind off, be present, use your senses; really listen, see, touch, taste, and smell.
  • It’s okay to stay hungry in life, just make sure you enjoy the fullness, and rest adequately. 
  • Enjoy the paradox of life, the polarity of all things, you cannot stop good vs. bad.
  • You can’t control everything; accept that which you cannot control.

Giving Gratitude

I am thankful for…

  • Family
  • Friends
  • Chico dog
  • All the love associated with the people in my life.
  • Health
  • Prosperity
  • Talents

There is so much to be thankful for, I had to sum it up. ❤️ ❤️

2015 Accomplishments 

  • Created healthy recipes to fit into a busy lifestyle.
  • Updated amandanicolesmith.com consistently and it grew by 236%.
  • Created and followed a consistent fitness routine.
  • Improved my flexibility and posture, and gained strength in new ranges of motion.
  • Stayed healthy, no sickness or major injuries.
  • Taught many amazing people how to pole dance and stretch more effectively.
  • Built a structured flexibility routine and coinciding community website.
  • Wrote and published my first cookbook.
  • Taught local recipe classes.
  • Increased income solely from passions.
  • Learned as much as I could everyday.
  • Maintained balance in health, love and career. Challenging, but it’s the first year I can really say this.

I wouldn’t call this an accomplishment, more of a big decision.

  • Decided to get engaged to my partner and best friend of 6 years. and we plan to get married in 2016. 😀 😀

As I look back on 2015, I feel a bit of pride.  I may not have reached my big goals yet, but I have reached my small stepping stone goals, which brings a sense of comfort.

In 2016 I will be focused on maintaining and building upon the things I started in 2015.

2016 Goals

Continue to…

  • Learn.
  • Gain flexibility, and strength with the 3rd flexibility challenge.
  • Love unconditionally.
  • Teach.
  • Be patient.
  • Update and add to the The Flexibility Challenge website.
  • Consistently write and publish on amandanicolesmith.com
  • Build & Launch Purified Lifestyle website.
  • Publish 2nd book.
  • Publish videos.

Looking back, perhaps the hardest years of my life were when I didn’t know which direction I wanted to choose, so many opportunities left me feeling overwhelmed. It took me a while to narrow it down and many wrong paths to figure it out, but I made the tough decisions and finally I feel more secure than ever.

In 2015 I made decisions and I stuck with them. I can happily say I successfully built a solid foundation and now I can focus on building upon it.

Sometimes I slipped, and felt the exact opposite of my goals, but it’s life and we all have to embrace the light as well as the darkness.

There is so much to be thankful for, I am looking forward to 2016 and all the opportunities that are waiting to be discovered.

Happy New Years, may you be blessed with love, health and prosperity!

Love Amanda ❤️

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