2017 - The Year of...

Thanks for the tremendous feedback I received to my last blog on what happened in 2016. I fully admit that mostly I do this as an outlet for me. It sometimes is easier to get my thoughts down on paper (at least digitally). But I have had many people reach out in the last couple of days to share their stories and other sorts of encouragement. Thank you for that, it means a lot to me! :) So now onto 2017.

I am not much for traditional New Year's resolutions. Sure, I have done those before, but for me those are just short-term wishes that end up falling apart in just a few weeks. That said, I do believe in the power of living with intention and goal setting. Too often I find myself simply reacting and responding to what life throws at me rather than trying to live proactively. I may blame lack of time or 'busyness' but in truth it's often just me not managing things the best way possible.

Last year my intention was to try to make some small changes in my life that when added together would get me to a better place. Dr. Blake Wagner taught this at one of our work events a couple years ago and it stayed with me. Sometimes we get so overwhelmed by big goals we actually get unproductive and 'fall off the wagon'. So I tried things like taking my vitamin once a day (basic, but I never did that...and maybe not coincidentally I think I was sick less last year), walking more to hit my 10,000 steps per day, trying to drink more water, finishing some 'unfinished projects' around the house, writing my 3 thankful things etc. To be honest my record with those is pretty hit and miss, but even if I succeeded with half of them that was a vast improvement over what would have happened otherwise.

So with that in mind the last couple weeks of the year I started to think about what I would like to see happen in 2017. At times I felt a little out of control of things in 2016 and I really wanted to feel like I wasn't constantly having things come together at the last minute. So I spent some time at the office cleaning up. I admit that I'm not the neatest person by nature and I constantly say I don't mind it, but you know what? I think I DO mind it. I cannot tell you how peaceful I felt when I walked into work Tuesday to a clean desk rather than piles of stuff everywhere. The work is still there and it still needs to get done but I feel like I have a more peaceful mind with which to accomplish that work.

Secondly, I felt like at the dawn of a new decade in my life I should try to break out of my normal routines. I remember reading an article on the successful show biz producer Shonda Rhimes a couple years ago and how she had a year of "Yes" where she intentionally tried to accept things that were offered to her. That stuck with me. But in truth, I don't think I have a problem saying yes (maybe I need the year of no, haha). So after thinking about it for a few days I decided to make 2017 the Year of NEW for me. I tend to get stuck in a rut so my goal is to do/learn/listen to/watch something new everyday this year and then to journal about it and what I learned.

It sounds fun to say the year of new, but in reality I know that some of these new things will not be pleasant. They may be stressful or sad but they might also be exhilarating, inspiring or life changing. I won't know until try it so that's what my intention is for this year. I'm a few days in and so far my 'new' things haven't been too exciting but even listening to a new album, starting the year with a clean office or reading a new book can change your perspective on something. I'm excited to see what I learn and where this takes me.

Incidentally I'm still work on my 'small habits' intention from last year. First step is to start drinking more water and less junk! I'm interested to hear what you think and what you hope to do in 2017!

Happy New Year!

2016 The Year of Everything and Nothing -- A retrospective

So you are probably thinking I forgot all about this blog, my promise to my mom and my goals, right? The answer is both yes and no. I never forgot but life got in the way, as life tends to do! It's the beginning of 2017 and it's been four years (!!) since I last blogged but I thought I would dust this account off and start tracking my progress on some different goals.

2016 was one of the most interesting years in recent memory. On a national level it was filled with divisiveness, anger, loss, change, and confusion. For me personally it's hard to really to classify. It was the year I turned 40. Society says I should struggle with this age, but in truth I feel more comfortable in my own skin than I ever have. It was a year of immense changes at work that necessitated a lot of long hours handing multiple jobs. Yet, it was also a year filled with many professional successes such as chairing a national association board, presenting at a national conference and seeing much success locally.

It was also a year that I decided to get out of credit card debt. That debt was an albatross around my neck and I felt deep shame and an overwhelming powerlessness to change it. Then I sat down with a friend who is a financial planner and we put a plan in place to try to tackle it. My original goal was to pay it off in 18 months and truthfully that seemed like wishful thinking at the time. Yet, I'm very blessed to say that if all holds I should be paid off sometime in the next 6 weeks, just about 13 months after I started!!! (No secrets, just doing the cash envelope budget system and putting all available $$ towards my debt.)

In March 2016, buoyed by my success with my debt and after several months of just overwhelming stress and pressure, I felt convicted to try to find something to be thankful for everyday. I started with a goal of 3 things but almost immediately every day had 4-5 different things. Truthfully, there were some very difficult days where I had to think really big picture about thankful things. But most days were filled with individual blessings, normal, humble and mundane (and a few extraordinary ones). I started to notice how this act started to change my attitude and outlook during stressful times. It's a habit I'm keeping in 2017.

2016 had one last gut punch for me -- learning that my beloved dog, Ginger, had terminal lymphoma and our days together were numbered. I had adopted Ginger just a little over a year after losing mom. She has been my faithful companion and best friend through some of the most trying days of my life. To say the diagnosis was devastating is probably an understatement. But after my initial despair I pulled it together to try to make Ginger's last months filled with lots of love, kisses, snuggles, treats, walks, rides in the car with her head out the window and all the things she loves.

I started this blog post to write about 2017 but I guess I needed to write about 2016. So tomorrow I'll fill you in on what I'm planning for this upcoming year! Happy New Year!