Easing into the New Year
Happy New Year! I had every intention of posting last week, but instead decided to disconnect from my laptop as much as possible (minus some online shopping!), snuggle with the puggles, get my fill of House Hunters and bad holiday movies, and plow through a few books I’ve been attempting to read forever. Aaron and I also started watching Homeland. I had my doubts, but the hype is not unwarranted – it’s highly addictive.
So this is the time of year when I’m supposed to make some resolutions. Honestly, I’m not a big New Year’s goals kind of person. I’m very much goal-oriented, but I tend to like to make resolutions throughout the year and focus on one or two things as opposed to a whole list. It keeps me from getting overwhelmed during a time of year when there’s so much pressure to finally get things ‘right’ with spending habits, working out, dieting…I think it’s actually the perfect time to take a break from TV and all that noise, and focus on what we actually want out of the next week/month/year. For me, it’s definitely not an eight hour diet, as I caught on the Today show this morning.
I go through phases with my interests and goals and tend to be consumed with one life area at a time. A couple of years ago it was moving to California to experience something completely different and push myself way out of my comfort zone. The following year it was moving back to Boston and quitting my 9-5. I spent the majority of my early and mid-twenties consumed by my job – working towards promotions and then desperately wanting a change. I’m now self-employed, albeit in the same field, but my schedule is mostly my own. It’s not my ideal situation, but I’m extremely grateful to be able to work from home, have the mental space to focus on other priorities, and still bring in a good paycheck.
And those other priorities? Overall, my focus has been shifting away from my career (at least, how I’ve defined it in the past) and more towards my passions – writing, cooking, veganism, health, nutrition, food policy, and I’m sure several others that will crop up in the coming months. It’s a constant evolution, and the learning process totally appeals to my academic side. I need to feel like I’m learning in order to be happy, and things like blogging, for example, allow me to be in that state of growth that I felt like I was lacking from my work.
Rather than share a set list of goals for the next year, I’m going to share a quote that I posted shortly after I started this blog:
“It isn’t necessary to know exactly how your ideal life will look; you only have to know what feels better and what feels worse…Begin making choices based on what makes you feel freer and happier, rather than on how you think an ideal life should look. It’s the process of feeling our way toward happiness, not the realization of the Platonic ideal, that creates our best lives.” ~Martha Beck
So, here’s to making choices in 2013 that challenge us, yet give us a greater sense of balance and fulfillment, and that ultimately make us happy! I have a good feeling about the year ahead…
xo
Amanda
