According to Wikipedia, New Year's Resolutions go back as far as the ancient Babylonians who made promises to their gods to return borrowed goods and repay debts. The Romans began each year making promises to their God Janus for whom the month of January is named. Each year, as the new year comes to pass, I struggle to decide the one thing I want to improve on the most this year.
Last year, I was unaware that I was about to begin a major shift in my life. I had recently read the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and my wheels were turning. Why not start an entire Happiness Project myself instead of the usual one or two resolutions? It was a daunting thought and I was unsure if I had the drive to complete it. As I've said before, I'm a Gemini through and through... which means I'm excellent at completing projects to about 80 or 90%. So in February, when the host of our Dress Club suggested the idea of completing Vision Boards for out monthly get together, I knew immediately what I was going to put on mine. My vision board was going to be shaped like a Lotus flower which represents growth. Each petal would represent an area of focus in my life... and one of these petals would be my Happiness Project.
March marked the beginning of my happiness project and this blog. I have blogged about my monthly goals as a way to keep me accountable. But this blog has done more than that. It is my monthly checkup, a way to organize my thoughts and to judge my own progress. Starting out I didn't know that my blog would inspire others. I also didn't know that the kind words from the people who read this blog have inspired me... to be a better writer, to be more honest with myself and to be true to who I am.
Every April I head up to Naramata in the Okanagan for The Spring Festival of Awareness with my mom. It is a spiritual weekend full of workshops covering topics from yoga to animal communication to quantum physics. It may sound bizarre, but every year I leave feeling renewed, refreshed... almost like having a new perspective on life. And every year, I plan my weekend from start to finish. I'm going to this workshop first, then for a massage, then here, then I'm going to have a nap, then I'm going there... This past year, the week before I headed up was a very emotional week for me and I felt like my life had been turned upside down. I needed this weekend to clear my thoughts. I didn't have the energy to plan a thing and left it up to the universe to guide me to what I needed to hear and learn. One of my life lessons I have learned is that the most amazing things in life happen when you let go of expectation. Every workshop I attended over the next two days left me with one very clear message: Love myself. It may sound very general, but I can't begin to tell you how profound this was for me. I think of myself as a very positive person. I don't beat myself up a lot and don't worry about the small stuff. So hearing that I needed to love myself was a bit surprising... But, I had been putting myself on the back burner, waiting for life to sort itself out so I could start living. I was carrying a lot of guilt with me and decided I
The summer was a great one. I soaked up the sun. Drank mojitos. Attended an information session on Interior Design. Should I do it? I enrolled in my first class of the Interior Design program at BCIT that was to start in the Fall and counted down the hours until class started. It was a huge milestone and I am still in disbelief that I did it... that I'm doing it. I have actually just started my second semester and am now going to school full-time which makes me smile just typing those words. :) And the bonus is that I am teaching my kids that education is important, and it's never to late to make your dreams come true.
2013 is lined up to be a fairly monumental year for me. My life is undergoing a major transition from working mom to working mom who also goes to school full time. I am also turning 30! It feels like yesterday I started this blog, and the Happiness Project... It felt like I had a long time to complete all the things on my "30 year bucket list", but not surprisingly, my birthday deadline is fast approaching. Almost 5 months to the day to conquer the remaining goals I have set out for myself.
My Happiness Project is rapidly coming to an end as well. This month is the second to last and my resolution is to "Keep a contented heart: Attitude". I am going to laugh out loud, use good manners, give positive reviews and find an area of refuge. My newly completed office space was intended for homework, but I find myself coming in to read a book or just to surf online. It's cozy and girly and is all mine! Perfect refuge. Next month is the final month for the Happiness Project and I will try my best to be "Bootcamp perfect". My only regret during this entire project is not keeping track of my goals on a daily basis. It's so easy to forget the tasks for the month. So for my final month, I am going to make the chart that I have been saying for the past year I would make so I can check off my accomplishments daily. After it is all said and done, I'm going to keep up with my blog... it helps keep me sane, and in a way, is a resolution all in itself.
Having said all that... New Years would not be New Years without a health oriented resolution. Getting physically fit is listed as one of the top resolutions for New Years along with quitting smoking and getting out of debt. New Years is a reminder for most of us that we need to jump back on the health bandwagon. Nothing like overindulging on sweets and wine through the holidays to add some fluff to the waistline and make you crave vegetables that have been seriously lacking from your diet. My challenge this year is find the time in my insane life to run. After all, I'm not going to be able to run a half-marathon if my training involves sitting on my butt and eating cheese and crackers. And I'm certainly not going to get any less busy. I've come to the sad realization that I am going to have to start getting up and hour earlier to run in the mornings. I love my sleep and it pains me to leave my warm cozy bed in the am. Our now three month old Doberman puppies are two bundles of energy and are going to need to be walked daily... pretty great motivation to get back at it!
So instead of struggling to come up with one or two resolutions this year like I have done in the past, I have done the exact opposite and come up with more resolutions than I can count. Pasted on my Vision Board is a quote that says LIVE LIFE BOLD. Bold is defined as: necessitating courage and daring. And that is exactly what I intend to do. Happy New Year!
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