As the snow falls and we greet the beginning of 2014, I’m trying to put my finger on just what to think. There’s something about the new year. A fresh, clean slate. It’s appealing and exciting. You stop to think about what you want to do and who you want to become. A whole bunch of dreams and goals are stuffed onto a list and even accomplishing half of them would be quite the feat. It can also be a time to reflect on the past and what has brought you to where you are now. It might be good or it might be plain rotten. Some of that impacts how you want your clean slate to look.
Everyone around me already seems to know just what the year should look like, and I feel like I’ve barely finished celebrating Christmas. It’ll take me at least another week to consider all my reflections and resolutions, but it will be time well spent. I can’t help but wonder if we place too much stock in the “new” and don’t spend enough time in maintaining the now. I’m not shy to change and love the idea of travel and a good challenge, but want to make sure I don’t overlook what is already in motion. I don’t want to reinvent myself. Sure, I want to grow and learn. I want to stop putting my foot in my mouth, and I want to see the world. But more so, I want to live the life I already have. I want to restore strained relationships and love those in my life right now and today. I want invest in my commitments and not jump to the next thing too quickly just because it’s new. I want to understand the depth of my blessings and continue to grow, even if from the outside my life seems stagnant or simple. There’s something happening right now and I want to be focused enough to experience it.