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!