So it’s New Year’s Eve and while I’m not big on making the new year into something bigger than it is…it’s really only a day on the calendar…I have some changes I want to make in my life. I guess the transition from one year to the next is as good a time to start as any, right?
2011 has been a really difficult year for me in so many ways. I lost “me” and I lost my focus. I’ve been trying to think of some changes I need to make in the coming year. Not resolutions so much, but ideas for making adjustments to the way I’ve been living.
I’m going to continue to cut drama from my life, including the people who create it. I don’t have time to allow people to put unrealistic expectations on me or on others. I don’t have the desire to please people who will never be pleased with anything.
If you’re with me, you’re with me. If you’re not, buh-bye.
Something you learn over time as a Christian is that you should love everyone, but you don’t have to like everyone or be friends with everyone. And sometimes loving people, especially toxic people, means letting them go. It’s just as important to love YOU as it is to love others. I plan to focus my energy and time on people who also want to live drama-free.
Forgiveness. I want to give it and ask for it more often.
New dreams. It’s easy to live in the past or to focus too much on the future. Living in regret is the easy way out of moving forward. I think it’s a good thing to sometimes let go of old dreams to take hold of new ones.
I’m SO ready for new ones.
Getting back to gratitude. Out of the last decade, the best years were the two years where I took time each day to think of the gifts in my life. Circumstances weren’t always peachy keen, but I felt more at peace and more content because I wasn’t directing all of my attention to the bad things.
For me, 2011 has been the year of losing focus, but I’ve learned some important lessons.
This whole “losing focus” thing has to change, and gratitude is going to be added back into my daily spiritual diet in many different forms.
I’m going to continue to work on my health. I have done well in the latter half of this year by changing my eating habits and my exercise goals. If nothing else, that’s one thing I’m proud of from this year.
I’m going to be asking God to direct my desires for meaningful living and deliberate giving. I went through a little crisis earlier this year where I had this weird, panicky feeling that I wasn’t participating in anything fulfilling or meaningful.
Devoting my time to something that challenges me and makes me want to live life is what I need to do. We’ll see what happens.
Also, I want to spend more one-on-one time with each of the important people in my life. How that will look, I don’t know, but I do know that it’s a desire in my heart. My love language is quality time, so I need to take the time to get my “love tank” filled.
Last, at least for now, I want to get out into the world more. I want to take more family road trips, but also experience more things on my own. I think I’ll wait less for people to do things with me because it’s often just as important to set out on my own once in a while.
Life’s too short. That’s my phrase for this year.
(Sunrise in the New Brunswick woods)
What are the tweaks you’re going to make in your life?