Year of Yes – December Recap

It’s the last month of my Year of Yes. What a journey it has been! I plan to write a post on the biggest lessons I learned during this year of YES. However, this post is on what I said yes to in December. I was going to make it part of the annual review but decided it deserved a post of its own.

So, here is what my year of yes looked like in December:

Storybook Interview

I mentioned back in October that I was invited to participate in The Storybook Project. The Storybook Project will be an anthology of stories by authors sharing moments they chose themselves even when the stakes were high. Each person will share about a time when she “courageously followed her intuition and knowing, listened to that small voice inside of her, and broke free from what she’d always done, what she’d been told she “should” do or who she “should” be.”

The woman who is curating this project asked me to be part of an interview series with some of the participants. It was a fun interview and can’t wait for it to go live. In the meantime, you can receive a FREE copy of The Storybook Project here. I’ll update once the interview is up.

Visioning Guide

Every year I create a Vision Board Guidebook that is designed to help people sent intentions for the New Year. As I was thinking about 2021, I felt strongly something different needed to be done. So, this year I created a Visioning Guide to help us think about how we want to BE in 2021. Less doing and more being.

This was one of those times when I felt like something was being channeled through me. It was less that I was creating this guide and more like I was being entrusted with it. The words poured out of me effortlessly. The questions came easily.

This guide is a 30+ page workbook that invites you to reflect and connect with the deepest parts of yourself. It’s a way to be intentional as you move through the New Year focusing more inwardly and less outwardly.

Click here to grab your copy of the Visioning Guide.

1:1 Antiracism Coaching

This year, I have had several unexpected opportunities to say yes to doing antiracism training. I’ve had so many requests that I even created a page on my website specifically for it.

I am by no means an expert and yet I know I have something to contribute to the larger conversation. Most of the opportunities have been around group trainings. However, In December opportunities came for me to work 1:1 with white women who want to do the hard work of becoming antiracists. It is challenging but necessary work. This is definitely one of the things I did not anticipate saying yes to this year.

Increase visibility

If you check out my Instagram feed, you’ll notice there are more pictures of me, and I’ve even posted a few videos. This month, I decided to say yes to being more visible on social media, well on IG anyway. It’s my platform of choice though I may add others later.

I am actively working on a narrative in my head that says I’m not good enough to be seen. I’m not put together enough; not perfect. This is the voice of my inner critic and she shows up trying to keep me safely inside my comfort zone. But playing it safe means playing small and I’m done playing small.

My videos are imperfect and some days the pics don’t look so great. But I’m still showing up and still putting myself out there. I may be a little late to the visibility game but better late than never 😊.

All in all, it was a good month. I finally feel like I’m on the other side of my recovery. I feel energized about where things are in my life right now. And I’m grateful for the journey. I look forward to sharing my full Year of Yes recap.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you. What did you say yes to in December? What has this month looked like for you? Tell me in the comments below or you can email me at makeda(at)makedapennycooke(dot)com

From my heart to yours,