2015 is here and oh what a year it is going to be. I’m not saying that 2015 is going to be a bad year, I actually think it’s going to be a great year. In fact when it came to choosing a word for the year, I seriously considered optimism because I know it is something I’m going to be drawing on a lot over the next few months. I’m sure I’ll be reminding myself to don my rose-coloured glasses and look at the glass as half-full fairly often. You see heading into this year, I already knew that our family was going to be facing some new challenges and changes. And while I’m certain that they will be for the positive and that good things will come from them, I also know that road through change can be difficult and sometimes full of worry and, yes, fear. I’m not trying to dwell on those, I just believe in being prepared.
It took me quite a while to figure out my word this year. I loved my word from last year. It rolled off the tongue easy; it was quirky; and it was truly a great fit for me. As far as first go, my first time doing word of the year was actually really great. And I want this year’s word to be equally or better yet, even better than last year’s in terms of keeping me focused on my main goal.
With all that in mind, I mulled things over. I wrote down words, I scratched out words. I used both my physical and online thesauruses and I even went so far as to ask friends for ideas.
At first I was focusing on the changes and challenges that I know are coming. I was thinking of words like pluck and moxie to remind myself that I have the courage to embrace all these things. Then I thought maybe embrace might work. It would serve to remind me that I need to embrace new things and all life has to offer. But it just didn’t feel right.
Then, yesterday I was busy working on some changes I want to make around hereand I was going through some website stuff when out of the corner of my eye a word caught my attention, and the second I saw it I thought
“Yes, this is it!”
Once upon a time, when I first started my blog, and when the only people I ever expected to read it were family and friends, and when I didn’t know anything about tag lines or bios, I tossed this description out there:
Slightly distracted, mildly frazzled, always crazy busy with something, (even when I’m doing nothing) and loving the adventure of marriage and motherhood!
It still holds true. That is one of the best descriptions of who I am, that I have ever written. But that word – that one word – caught my eye. I wasn’t reading that at that moment. I was working on something else, that description just happened to be in my peripheral vision. That one word opened my eyes and made it all click for me. Can you see that word? It is….
Adventure is such a fun word. I don’t know what it is about this word, but it always sounds so positive and upbeat. Which is just what I need this year. I need to remind myself that life is an adventure. And like all good adventure stories…
There will be challenges.
There will be changes.
There will ups.
There will be downs.
There will be joy, sorrow, laughter, and love all rolled into one. And at the end of the day, the adventure of it all is a wonderful thing. And just like it does for the hero and heroines in all the adventure stories I love to read… it will all work out in the end.
This year will bring withlots of new things, but doesn’t each new year bring those things? And I know I may need to persevere and show gumption; and I might need to dig deep and find my own brand of moxie and be plucky and all of that, but you know what? Attitude and perspective change everything.
So when I find myself falling into the trap of worry and stress, when I feel overwhelmed and ready to cave… when I feel as though I’ve been shoved so far outside my comfort zone that I don’t remember what comfortable actually feels like … I will remind myself that life is an adventure. You have to take the good with the bad, and find your way to come out the other side stronger, better, and morethan you were when you began it. But most of all, it’s meant to be enjoyed, and that my friends is what I want for this year.
I want to enjoy the journey. I want to learn from mistakes and move onward from there. I want to see challenge and change as opportunities to learn and grow. I want to worry less and enjoy more. I want to turn the negative into the positive. I want to cherish the small moments and celebrate the every day, ordinariness that is life.
I want to be the heroine of my own story.
2015 is my year of adventure…. what is it going to be for you?
