There is one certainty in life, and that is that time marches on. It honestly does not feel like a year since I last undertook this process, but here we are. If you follow my page you know that I am always busy and juggling, and so having some structure and outline in the form of goals does give me things to work towards. I like to think of it like a map for where I am heading, and it’s okay to take detours or end up in a different place.
If you are writing goals for yourself, try and make them SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound. It makes it much easier to achieve things if you have a structure and the ability to check off whether you are there or not. Vague goals like “eat healthier” are the first to be broken because what does that mean? Do you stop eating processed food, or do you add more vegetables or start eating breakfast or something else?
So this is my plan for 2025, including some things I am really looking forward to.
Firstly, I will continue to write at least one post every week for this page. It keeps me thinking, and the information is much better shared than stuck in my head. I also think that empowering people to take care of their own health is a really important reason to be a health professional, and I hope my blog can be that for people.
An important goal personally and professionally for me in 2025 is balance. I have a lot juggling four different jobs, continuing education for two professions, research, study, as well as family, self care and hobbies. (I can tell you I have much less time for my hobbies these days, and yet they are really important for wellbeing). So I am taking at least one non-contact day each month where I won’t see clients, although I will no doubt be working on cases, tutoring, studying, researching or something else work related.
More research. I have two new projects that I am working on, and will put ethics applications in this year (planning for at least one this month!) and start these projects. One is building on my demographics survey, and is considering what success as a Homeopath in New Zealand means. The second is another passion project, a longitudinal study starting with homeopathy students, following them through their study and into practice so that we can assess what is working and where more support is needed in study and with that transition. I expect it to be a 10 year project. I still need to complete my New Zealand provings protocol and officially start the Materia Medica Aotearoa Project. Last year this got away on me, but it will happen this year.
Study. I need to complete my Graduate Certificate of Professional Coaching in the first semester. This is so I can give more support as well as homeopathic remedies. I’m also in my first year of a three year Fellowship with the Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine, and I will be continuing that with modules in different areas of integrative medicine so I have more knowledge. In addition, I have a continuing professional development (CPD) plan for Pharmacy, and endeavour to continue my homeopathy learning with at least one webinar or lecture or other CPD activity every other month.
One of my Pharmacy CPD requirements is reflection, and I chose to look at the core competencies of being a Pharmacist. I identified Domain 7: Public Healthcare as one area I could put in more effort. This is about contributing to community health and public health initiatives. While I talk to people one on one, and I have this page for homeopathy, I want to reach out more to the community. So, on Tuesday 11th March I will be facilitating a Women’s Health evening about Perimenopause and Menopause. This will be at a local cafe, have our awesome local Naturopath, a woman who holds Rites of Passage for women, and a dancer, pilates and yoga instructor, and potentially a couple of other speakers also, and hopefully give local women some useful information and practical things they can do to improve their lives. Watch this space for updates!
This year in June I am attending the Homeopathic Research Institute (HRI) Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece. I have applied to present my Demographics Survey research at this, and should hopefully find out in the next week if I will be presenting. Even if I’m not, I’m really looking forward to being there in person, networking, and finding out all about the latest homeopathic research from around the world.
I think that’s enough for me. Do you have any plans for this year?