Well, I just looked at the calendar app on my phone and realized that it’s May 1st. I suppose this is as good a time as any to finally acknowledge that it’s a new year. I wish I could say that my aloofness was due to that cliché of time flying because I’m having fun but, mostly, I’m just tired. My days all run together and I can rarely remember my kids names, let alone the date and things we’re supposed to be doing on said date.
But, here I am. Lucky enough to find myself facing another year, another month, another 365 opportunities to maximize my personal potential. Let me say that nothing specific made 2018 so spectacular that I was hesitant to see it go; rather, these last four months flew by at such a warped speed that only now am I coming up for air and wrapping my mind around what I want 2019 to look like, what intentions I’m setting moving forward through the year (even though I’m nearly half-way through it but I digress…), and what I wand and/or need to do differently from last year.
So, in no particular order, here’s looking at 2019:
-Be ruthlessly intentional with where I extent my energy. If the effort of exerting that energy is not adding to my life or is causing me stress, the question I need to ask myself is why I am even doing it in the first place?
-Assume full responsibility for my life and my happiness one hundred percent of the time. If I assume full responsibility for the shape my life takes, then I in turn inherit the ability to alter it as I see fit. Also, blaming other people instead of holding myself accountable is just lazy and a cheap shot to take.
- Continue to embrace change and the (often uncomfortable) steps necessary to achieve that emotional, mental, and physical growth.
-Don’t create or engage unnecessary negativity. It’s not only a waste of my time but it’s creates a path of destruction when engaged carelessly and constantly.
-I will not— I REPEAT— I will not compare myself and my journey to the path anyone else is on. I am only in competition with myself and that’s that.
-Embrace life—motherhood, particularly— as a series of very short, temporary seasons with weather patterns that are often beyond my control. Just remember during especially volatile storms that this too shall pass.
-Fiercely enforce and defend the personal boundaries that keep my mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing in balance.
-Practice the pause before reacting. Exploding with big emotions only make a likely already-sensitive situation worse.
-There is little difference between self-deprecation and the outward manifestation of self-doubt. I will own my strengths and talents with grace and humility instead of walking that tight rope and unintentionally making others more comfortable by dumbing myself down.
-I will remain unapologetic in the pursuit of what makes me feel whole, that which allows me to be the most authentic version of myself, and the me I like most.
-How I will begin and end each day: five minutes of stretching, a few minutes of silence to quiet the mind, mentally listing off all that I’m grateful for, and drinking a large glass of water.
-Remain open and vulnerable, admonish shame, and tell those who judge to fuck off. Those who love me, love ME.