We did our annual TYOSNYDRT (Tour Your Own State New Years Day Road Trip) up around the thumb of Michigan. I didn't worry about taking pictures, we didn't listen to the radio once we lost the NPR station we just enjoyed each others company and talked.
We went over a plethora of "What If's" - "What if we...", "What if I...", "What if you..." and we came up with some truly amazing ideas. We realigned ourselves to what it is we are both looking to do with a fresh new year stretching before us and how we can support each other in reaching our goals.
I am so excited to move forward and work on achieving our dreams, it feels good and right.
Right around New Years there are a million articles clogging up everyone's feeds on resolutions. I do everything I can to avoid them. Short of not getting on the internet or reading magazines it's kind of hopeless. I am a sucker though and being a Potterite I couldn't resist this one: 12 New Year's Resolutions Inspired by HP Characters. And you know what? I love it. I love it because it's not about losing weight or remembering to floss your teeth every. single. night. It struck a cord with me so I am committing to do all of these things. Watch your snail-mailboxes!
The next article that caught my eye and I actually read was this one from The Kitchn, What Pushing the Resent Button Looks Like for Me After a Hard Year. I had a rough start to 2015 at my job due to office politics and staffing shake-ups, moving to HQ from the comfort of the hospital that I had worked in since 2003 and finding my way at HQ, even though I have worked for the company since 2010. I didn't have any major catastrophes happen in 2015, it just wasn't a good year, it's hard to explain and I'm going to sound fruity but it just didn't fit. Does that make sense? It felt like a wrong sized dress I was trying on in a too hot, tiny dressing room. I've hit the reset and am looking forward to 2016!
Last year my word was patience and I feel like I have made great strides. I still sometimes struggle with it by internally tapping my toe at who/whatever is I'm feeling impatient with but, I don't snap or verbalize my impatience. Instead I tell myself to shut up and be patient. It works!
Also in 2015 I said that I would try to:
1. Say "I love you" more - Success!
2. Knit more - Fail! I knit exactly one thing which I didn't even FINISH until a few weeks ago
3. Find something, anything, at least one tiny morsel of happiness in every situation - Success, mostly!
4. Read more - Success!
5. Smile more - Partial success, it's hard to judge 'cause are we counting forced smiles?
6. Blog more - Fail! Overwhelming failure at that.
7. Be more patient - Success and I will continue to work on my patience!
This years word is: Calm. It came to me out of the blue, I wasn't looking for a new word, just one day it popped into my head and it's stuck. So a hundred times a day I say, both out loud and in my head "calm".
Hey wait!
Here's a picture so that when my post pops up there's a picture associated with it and not some weirdo squiggle or just nothing at all. I've been meaning to share this but didn't have a reason to. Also, it's winter and flowers are a beautiful reminder that summer is right around the corner!
A picture I took in Greece of Bougainvillea. Isn't it pretty? It grows everywhere! |
This years motto is: There are so many beautiful reasons to be happy.
For 2016 I'll continue to say I love you more, read a lot, smile more and persist in trying to be patient. I'll work on actually getting my crafty on and knitting more, I'll solemnly do my best to be a better blogger and I'll add calm.