It’s 2020! I woke up to this beautiful sunrise at the lake on New Year’s Day and couldn’t help but marvel at this beautiful life and what the past decade has brought us…graduations, weddings, grandchildren, career and location changes, challenges and opportunities, love and loss.
This new year and decade has such a nice ring to it. You can’t help but be drawn to focus and clarity. It’s a constant reminder just by saying it. I think having a focus and vision for the new year is always a good thing, whether you call it a resolution or not, and it is also good to take your time to think about it. Personally, I like to ease into the new year. It usually takes me a few days to catch up on sleep, clean up the holiday remnants, slowly put decorations away, write out to-do lists, fill in a new calendar, work on the budget, clean out the frig, etc. etc. Once those distractions are out of the way, it is easier to focus on what needs to be done and what I want to accomplish over the next twelve months. It’s actually through the holiday season and this process that I settle on my “word” that I want to focus on for the new year.
This year, my word is BALANCE. I kind of “stumbled” on it just after Christmas when visiting my son and his family in Maryland. Have you ever tripped on your own feet? You know, where the rubber meets the road (literally) and just stops? Well, this happens to me quite a bit. I actually have a reputation for tripping and falling, just ask my husband. Once I even ended up in the ER from a stumble while on a hike in Sonoma, CA.
Selfie before hike…before! 
After fall on a hike,
glued eyebrow.
Still went wine tasting
a couple hours later.
Nothing physically wrong with me so don’t worry. But I do tend to have wobbly ankles, sluff as oppose to picking up my feet and seem to find the tiniest of pebbles that will trip me up. So my goal is to work on my physical balance and get more into yoga to strengthen my core. Hopefully this will take care of that.
Then there’s the elusive work/life balance. At first I thought I had this mastered as I was able to make all of my client deadlines and manage to go the the lake house every weekend and extended stays, make trips to visit my kids and grand kids and even take a few weeks vacation throughout the year. However, what I discovered when revisiting my resolution list from last year, is that the things that I wanted to focus on kept getting pushed off to the side for when I had extra time, if ever, or the end of the day when I was tired (from getting up at 5:00 am probably). On that list were to journal, pray, and exercise. I also wanted to read more, which I found I actually did quite a bit of, probably because I could just sit there and not move while I did it (even then I would often fall asleep). Somehow I managed to read about ten books.
Of course it is easy to state a resolution or goal and make lists, but not so easy to actually implement them. You need to set up an action plan that will work for you and your personality. Only you know you. For me, I discovered I am definitely a morning person. Would I like to sleep in until seven or eight? You bet, but as soon as my brain gets word that it’s morning (thank you doggies for your morning wake-ups), getting up at 5:00 am allows me the quiet alone time to journal, pray, read and write out my intentions and lists for the day with that first fresh cup of coffee. I find when I do this I am more centered, energized and ready for the day. FOCUSED.
This is where I want to be. I am hoping by implementing this little step I will get that balance I have been seeking year after year and I am sure will set me up to reach my other work and personal goals that I set. Time will tell. (I may want to schedule in a fifteen minute nap in the middle of the day too).
I recently subscribed to Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper. If you want to start your week out with a positive spin and inspirational stories, check it out. It hits my inbox on my way to church and I read it for that forty minute drive each Sunday. There’s a lot of content there that you can dig through as the week goes on to counter all the heavy negative news we hear and see on TV. Check it out.
When all is said and done, only 8% of the 60%-70% of people who actually make resolutions,keep them and the rest give up after only twelve days. With those statistics, I think it might be wise to wait and be ready to make the changes. Take your time, think about it, prepare your environment for it. Set yourself up for success. Or don’t. Just try to live your best life each day. It really as simple as that. As long as we are still willing to grow and change I think that is all we can really ask for.
So cheers to you and living your best life in focus with a clear vision for your future. Happy New Year, Happy New Decade!!
Denise
detailsbydenise.com 