Every year, around this time, I urge my clients to take inventory. Seasonal changes in the northern hemisphere evoke the power of letting go and letting things lie dormant for a while. While there’s nothing overtly magical happening when the clock strikes midnight on December 31st, it’s still very symbolic. This is an excellent time of year to take a step back and assess your reality in a very grounded way. You might associate taking inventory with a business, and that’s precisely why I use that terminology. We use this time to zoom out and be objective about what’s happening to even the most subjective parts of our lives. 

Why do this? Well, a weird thing happens in our society – we work hard at working hard in our jobs. Many of us also work hard at our relationships and fulfilling family duties but when it comes to working on ourselves, we either feel guilt or discomfort and therefore don’t work inward much at all. For some reason, it’s easier for us to mindlessly dive into a to-do list than it is to pause and take time to meditate and set an intention for the day, even if we have the time. Which, in my opinion, makes absolutely zero sense. Let’s rewrite how we do this. 

2020 brings with it an unusual set of circumstances, albeit ones I’d argue were simply always hidden in plain sight. Part of accepting our realities is to accept consistent uncertainty that existed before the pandemic. People who live in war-torn countries or those with chronic illnesses know this existence well already. What’s fascinating is how we now see it manifest on a whole, mass level, even for people in the most privileged places and circumstances. This is a gateway and an opportunity to evolve. We can’t go back to the “normal” we had, folks. It’s time to live life more wholesomely. The only way to do this is if we stop and take inventory of ourselves; in order to get to know ourselves and the realities of life, we must make the choice to do so. Because life is difficult, even full of sh*t for the majority of humans most of the time, so it’s time to face the music and learn to accept and welcome our reality – no matter what. Let’s move forward and most importantly, let’s make the best of it.

I hope this post inspires a few things and makes an impact in and on your life. Here are a few things to take notice of while taking inventory so you can set the tone to create the reality you not only dream of, but that will make this planet a better place for us all. A few steps and things to consider: 

1- We aren’t here to go it alone.

If we were, then why would there be billions of us homo sapiens? As we evolve to have greater healthcare, access to food, and more sanitary living conditions, humans multiply exponentially. We are here to go at this together: interdependent, not independent. People like me exist to be a conduit to help you help yourself. No bullshit, no sales talk. It is a fact that we live in a system, something nature makes apparent all the time if we just stop long enough to step out of our anthropocentric hubris and face the facts. Systems are not singular. Success is not singular. My success is as dependent on yours as yours is on mine. It’s hard to see in the moment, which makes it a tough pill to swallow, but trust it. 

2- It all needs to start with you.

While we are interdependent, everything still needs to start with you. The fact remains you’re the only person you can control, to the degree you can. If you’re doing well, then usually work and relationships and overall well-being improve as well. Once you see the interdependence of it all, you begin to see your life for the system it is, all of its interconnected parts influencing one another. You can work to compartmentalize all you want, but that usually just leads to inner conflict or numbing-behavior. 

3- Build awareness and learn to observe.

Learn to be the observer for yourself, for life, and for the sake of your perspectives – a.k.a. your reality. We’re already on our way, so let’s go there. It’s a time of year to go inward. Fall transitioning to winter symbolizes so much: shedding, letting go, and making change. On the flip side of all this change is a search for comfort and preservation, and a sense of going inward for inquiry towards balance and renewal. I say often, we have to slow down in order to speed up and this is exactly that time. Though we feel like things may be speeding up because of the holidays, we must take time to take inventory and mindfully honor the time of year as it fits into our lives. I’ve written before on taking inventory and having a year-end review and a big piece of this is simply (or, rather, not) learning to be the observer of your life. Cultivating the witness, the onlooker, if you will. By doing so, we can be more mindful of ALL facets of our lives: family, relationships, hobbies and commitments, money, career, physical health, spiritual well-being, the list goes on. 

In the face of building your awareness and taking inventory, you can generate new perspectives and thus, new opportunities. The world isn’t going back to how it once was, and why would we want it to? Use these steps to build awareness and honor how you co-create this reality for yourself and for us all.