The new year is in full swing and with it comes resolutions, packed gyms, colorful new planners, and the general notion that us humans should get our acts together.

While I’m all for progress and self-improvement I’d like to present you with a different mindset when it comes to goal setting for 2017.

Instead of getting bogged down by check lists, regimens, and rituals try thinking about the new year as something palpable or tangible. It’s something you’re going to actually mold with passion.  It’s easy to treat our lives like a homework assignment we were guilted into doing by society and 10,000 “New Year, New You” Instagram posts.

Don’t let it be.

2017 is your own precious, creative little baby. You get to make it into whatever you want. Make it feel the way you want to feel in 2017. Make it look the way you want to look in 2017. Make it care and think and act just the way you want to for the next 12 months. It’s your life!

While yes, strategy and a game plan are needed to see your goals come to fruition, a shift in your mindset will transform those pesky “to dos” into beautiful “my soul HAS tooo”.

When we think about the months to come it’s easy to see our goals as lofty and burdensome. But when we think about it big picture, it becomes an art form and we are the creators with paintbrush in hand. Keep in mind that each tactile step is leading you to the bigger picture – a life you are proud to call your own!

When we get caught in the weeds of checking off each and every task or reprimanding ourselves for failure to make it to that 6pm yoga class we are robbing ourselves of the creative process of shaping our 2017. We’re extinguishing the fun in creating a life that is our own and we are buying in to the lie of “my accomplishments are my worth”.

No, no, no.

It’s a “get to”, not “have to” sort of mindset.

It’s not checking a task off your list; it’s furthering the molding and shaping of your 2017.

It’s a true gift.

Because not everyone has the freedom to completely self-construct their lives into their own personal form of beauty and fulfillment. So that’s something to act on, not sit idly with.

Don’t look back on your year and think of all the tasks you didn’t get done. Look back and see that you shaped 2017 to be uniquely yours, whatever that looks like. Now get to shaping!

What is your mold or outlook for 2017? I’d love to hear!

Photos by Byrd Photography