The week between Christmas and New Year’s always seems a bit like limbo – the family holidays have ended, yet the new year hasn’t quite begun yet. I find that, for myself anyway, this week tends to be a time of reflection and goal setting.
I’m not one of those people who, year after year, resolves to do the same things (like lose weight, eat better, quit smoking/drinking, etc) and gets fed up 1 month in and puts that goal off for another year. I like to use the learnings from the past year to formulate my goals, that may be accomplished in 2012, but may also be longer-term goals that’ll stick with me a while.
That said, I’d like to take a look at my resolutions from last year and see how I did.
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Be Honest: with myself and those around me. Make it known what I want, then work out a compromise if it doesn’t match others that are involved.
Success! Though, I do have to admit that I still struggle with this one. I’m a giver, I like to make sure others are happy, but I’ve taken great strides in making sure I’m happy too.
Write more.
Success! Well, mostly. I took some time off from this here blog to get my head around where I wanted my writing to go, and I think that time off provided great insight that was needed to continue my writing in a positive way.
Make yoga and meditation a priority.
Fail. My year started out rough, like really rough, and I lost sight of this part of taking care of myself. It was enough of a struggle to get myself to eat sometimes, let alone take the time to meditate about life. So, we’ll try again this year.
Photography: be better about capturing memories on photo.
Fail. I don’t have any good reason for this. But, I did just open my Etsy shop here: http://photohut.etsy.com. So hopefully that’ll jumpstart my drive to keep up with my photography.
Relax.
Fail, then success. Until about May I was wound tighter than I’ve ever been, but after starting a new gig and planning my incredible wedding, I learned to not worry so much. Those who know me in person would be incredibly impressed with how relaxed I was as a bride – and in turn, the day was perfect!
Wear more jewelry.
Success. Kinda. Aside from my engagement ring and wedding band, I typically wear my closing pin along with an om symbol pendant around my neck, the occasional right hand ring, and always my diamond studs (a gift from my parents that I rarely remove). What can I say, I think I’m just a basic kinda girl.
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Looking back on this year, it was a HUGE time of growth for me. It was the first year of marriage that was celebrated by our wonderful wedding with friends and family just outside of Chicago. I adopted a dog who taught me just what unconditional love is. I’ve learned what kind of person I truly am, and am still in the process of learning how to share that with others.
More than anything I learned that the human spirit can overcome great obstacles. It was a rough year for my family, having lost a number of wonderful souls who will forever impact the way I live my life.
As 2011 comes to a close, I find myself walking toward 2012 with much hope, a positive attitude and a smile on my face. It’s going to be a great year!
So what about the resolutions, you might ask? Well, you’ll just have to swing by tomorrow for part 2, where I’ll outline my goals (thanks to all I’ve learned this past year) for 2012.
Love and blue skies!
Ashley