LOVE IS LOVE PUBLISHING
COMING SOON FROM LOVE IS LOVE PUBLISHING
THE INTENTIONAL YEAR
A Guided Annual Retreat for Reflection, Vision, and Intentional Living
by Crystal Payne, LCSW
Not another planner.
Not another list of resolutions.
Not another demand to reinvent yourself because the calendar changed.
This is an invitation to
create space for yourself—
and listen to what you find there.
What if your next chapter did not begin with becoming someone new?
The Intentional Year is a guided annual self-retreat created for adults who are ready to slow down, reflect honestly, reconnect with what matters, and move forward with greater intention.
What if it began with returning to yourself?
A different Kind of new year
You do not need a new you.
Every year, we are encouraged to do more.
Set bigger goals.
Become more disciplined.
Fix what is not working.
Start over.
But before asking what you want to accomplish next, The Intentional Year invites you to ask something deeper.
How am I, really?
What has this season taught me?
What am I ready to leave behind?
What matters enough to carry forward?
How do I want my life to feel?
You are not a project to complete.
Sometimes the most intentional thing you can do is return to yourself.
An annual retreat you can return to all year long.
What is the intentional year?
The Intentional Year begins with a guided annual self-retreat—an intentional pause to look back, listen inward, reconnect with what matters, and consider how you want to move forward.
Complete your retreat over a weekend, a few quiet days, or at a pace that works for your life.
Then return to the book throughout the year.
01
Honor the Story
You’ve Lived
Retreat ONE
Look honestly at where you have been, what you have carried, and what your experiences have taught you.
Release What No
Longer Belongs
retreat two
Notice what has become too heavy, outdated, unfinished, or no longer aligned with who you are becoming.
02
Remember What
Matters Most
retreat three
Reconnect with your values, relationships, needs, and the parts of yourself you do not want to lose inside the noise of everyday life.
03
Imagine the Life
You’re Becoming
retreat four
Explore not only what you want next, but how you want the different areas of your life to actually feel.
04
Live What
Matters Most
retreat five
Turn reflection into intentional rhythms, choices, and practices that can exist inside your real life.
05
Return
retreat six
Gather what you have discovered, honor what has shifted, and carry your intentions into the year ahead.
06
Check in.
Realign.
MONTHLY RETURN
A regular pause to notice what is shifting, reconnect with what matters, and enter the month ahead with greater intention.
You’re supported all year long.
The Intentional Year is designed to be a living companion—one you return to again and again so your reflections become part of how you actually live, not simply something you complete once and leave behind.
You don’t just do the work once. You live it—all year long.
REFLECTION IS NOT A ONCE-A-YEAR EVENT.
Pause with
the shift.
SEASONAL RESET
A deeper reflection at the changing of the seasons—a chance to honor where you are now and consider what needs to shift next.
Build rhythms
that last.
INTENTIONAL RHYTHMS
Simple practices help what matters move beyond the page and become part of the choices and rhythms of your everyday life.
Begin again.
On purpose.
ANNUAL RETURN
At the end of your year, return to where you began. Read your words again, recognize what changed, and meet the version of yourself who arrived on the other side.
Maybe your year begins on January 1.
Maybe it begins on your birthday.
But meaningful beginnings are not limited to a calendar.
Your personal new year
Your year
begins when
you decide
it does.
Maybe yours begins…
On your birthday.
After a graduation.
After a move.
After a loss.
After reaching something you worked years to achieve.
At the beginning—or ending—of a relationship.
After a difficult season.
At the edge of something new.
Or on an ordinary Tuesday when you realize:
January is one beginning.
It is not the only one.
I need some time with myself.
The Intentional Year is intentionally undated because your most meaningful beginnings belong to you.
Your birthday can become your personal new year.
A major transition can mark a new chapter.
An ordinary day can become the moment
you decide to live more intentionally.
You do not have to wait for January to begin again.
You love journaling, but you want reflection that goes deeper than a blank page.
This may be your invitation if…
You do not have to wait until something is wrong to make time for yourself.
Sometimes intention begins simply because you want to be more present for the life you already have.
You spend so much time showing up for other people that you sometimes lose track of yourself.
You are entering a new season and want to move into it with greater intention.
You create vision boards or set goals, but you want to think about how you want your life to feel before deciding what you want it to look like.
You do not have to be starting over to want to live more intentionally.
WHO THE INTENTIONAL YEAR IS FOR
You are navigating change, grief, burnout, growth, uncertainty, or a beginning you did not necessarily plan for.
You have goals, but you want those goals to be connected to your values rather than pressure.
You want an annual ritual that belongs to you—something you can return to year after year.
Or maybe life is actually going well, and you simply want to become more present for it.
Meet The Author
Created from both the
therapist’s chair and
a life fully lived.
Her own practice of intentionally pausing to reflect on the year behind her and the life ahead became the foundation for The Intentional Year.
Not a practice of constantly becoming someone new. A practice of returning.
Crystal Payne, LCSW, is a licensed clinical social worker, U.S. Navy veteran, therapist, educator, wife, mother, and founder of Love Is Love Counseling.
For more than a decade, her work has centered on helping adults and couples navigate relationships, life transitions, grief, trauma, burnout, healing, identity, and change.
But The Intentional Year was shaped by more than Crystal’s professional work. It also grew from her own experience of carrying multiple roles, responsibilities, dreams, relationships, and ideas while recognizing how easy it can be to remain present for everyone else and become less present for yourself.
A guided The Intentional Year Virtual Retreat is being created for readers who want dedicated time, thoughtful guidance, and community as they move through their annual reflection.
Slow down.
Pour something you love.
Bring your book.
Make space.
And spend intentional time with the person you may not get enough uninterrupted time with during everyday life:
yourself.
The book is only the beginnng
Make your annual retreat an experience.
Dates, registration details, and retreat information will be announced soon.
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