You may be reading and seeing a lot of content out there this week about setting goals and working hard to achieve them with a five step plan that starts NOW. It’s the beginning of a new calendar year, and it’s easy to get swept up in that hustle mentality. And it makes sense to a certain degree — a fresh start or new beginning to the year brings with it new goals and new hopes for the future. So then why does the New Year, and the lackluster resolutions it tends to precipitate, feel like a drag sometimes?
If you, like us, have had big ideas about goals and resolutions in January, just to burn out by February, you are in very good company. While the new year brings with it a new scope of goals, the hurry from Christmas to New Years barely gives us a second to breathe before we’re enacting our latest brilliant plan of execution. And while we love execution of a plan, maybe what we need to do before we execute is to dream. Maybe it would benefit our planning and our hustle to have time to slow down, rest, regroup our senses, and build a dream for ourselves first. That feeling resonates with us much more than “hit the ground running on January 1st” does! If it resonates with you too, we’ve rounded up some New Year's advice on how to start the new year by rebuilding your dreams at a nice, slow, restful pace. Read on for New Year's inspiration:
If you look around at nature during the coldest winter months, you might notice something: not much activity! The birds are more tucked away in their trees, the flowers and leaves have all but left their stems and branches, and all of nature seems to be hibernating. At KIM+ONO, we take nature very seriously. Mother nature has been a huge source of inspiration for our flower kimono robes, in both design and meaning. And this is for good reason — remembering we are part of nature allows us to flow with it instead of against it. So this January, lean into the value of resting and hibernating. Sleep a little longer. Go to bed a little earlier. Schedule a few less appointments and get togethers. Allow yourself to mirror what you see in nature — you can even slip into your flower kimono robe if it helps to remind you! But no matter what you do, find ways to get inspired by nature and your dreams will start to rise to the surface. Once you give yourself a little space, you’ll be surprised with what dreams start to fill in that space for you.
Another way to rebuild and reconnect with the dreams that are going to move you through 2023, is to take care of yourself. It seems simple, and we know we’re always preaching about self care, but there’s very little we can accomplish without being good to ourselves. Whether you take out your favorite gua sha tool for a nightly skincare routine, or you wrap up in a silky floral robe that makes your skin feel like it’s being hugged by a cloud, give your senses something special each day to feel good. When you feel good in your body, your intuition can light up. You can feel more connected to what you really want. You can see your dreams more clearly, the ones that align with you, not with others’ expectations of you.
If you’re rebuilding your dreams, you’re really reconnecting with love and inspiration. Love and inspiration are the foundational building blocks of what we’re called to create in the world. When co-founders, sisters Renee and Tiffany Tam, set out to build their dreams of a flower kimono robe company, they allowed themselves to be inspired by their family heritage and their connection to nature and each other. Each short robe and long robe is woven with the love and inspiration from their childhoods. When the going gets tough, it can be easy to give up on a dream. But not if you are connected deeply to it. If you feel inspired by your dream, you’ll do whatever you need to do to chase it. So right now, look inward and connect with your own inspirations. Let those inspirations lead you down the path to rebuild new dreams from love.
While Mother Nature may slow down easily and effortlessly, in our hustle culture it’s certainly more of a manual switch for us. So schedule in a little bit of slowness. Instead of saying yes to events and get togethers, be very particular about where you dole out your energy. Instead of packing your day with appointments and things to do, cut some corners. Give yourself a chance to slow down and your dreams will show up to you as clear as day. You can use methodical and intentional motions like using a gua sha tool to help slow down. Or you can take a whole day off from commitments and slink around in a silky long kimono robe that makes you feel calm and centered. However you slow down, be intentional about it and choose it during this time. You’re storing up energy to dream bigger.
Co-founders, sisters Renee and Tiffany Tam know a thing or two about building and rebuilding a dream. KIM+ONO is an extension of a 30 year family business. They took their parents’ dream and reimagined it into their own kimono store selling silky floral robes for the modern (wo)man. For Renee, when she needs to feel inspiration, it’s travel that always revitalizes her dreams. Seeing different places and people and culture remind her that there is no one way of doing anything, and travel is the restful reset that helps her build her dream forward. For Tiffany, she suggests that anyone starting off their own business or building their own dream is to see every experience (whether good or bad) as a step on the path forward. To dream big means embracing failure at every level, and growing from those mistakes and failures can make you stronger and more capable to handle bigger dreams.
We hope you find time to rest and build your own dreams this month, lovely. Remember, you are storing up energy, giving yourself space to connect with your intuition, and giving your dreams a real chance to bloom when you nurture yourself first.
