Normally when the new year comes around I look forward to seeing family and friends and celebrating but I don't think too much about the year to come. I'll have ideas that dance around in my head of resolutions and things to try but never this urgency of following through. So as we were getting ready to head out to my family's Saturday night for our traditional New Years bash, I started to notice the flips in my stomach I was getting and realized that it was excitement about the idea of a brand new beginning in time. A clean slate. The thrill of not knowing what is to come.
Going back a few days before this, I headed into a Panera with all the intentions of studying hard for the last of my courses, which I of course have been procrastinating on until the last minute. When I sat down I quickly realized that I wouldn't be getting much studying done with a group of teenage girls talking loudly next to me about their life woes. I opened my book and tried my hardest to focus on my reading but gave up when I kept reading the same sentence over and over again because I was too caught up in their conversation. I heard them say a couple very familiar names of teachers I once had and quickly gathered they were seniors from my old high school. It was so funny to me that 8 years ago I was that same teenager sitting in a Panera complaining about how unfair teachers could be, how fake girls were, and how cute I thought a certain boy was. I laughed to myself at the tone they had of knowing so much about life and how tough it was but in all reality life has barely just begun.
As I sat there smiling and listening to them talk about the future and wondering what college they were going to get accepted into, something about that ignited that excitement inside I'd felt so long ago about not knowing what the future holds.
It's not that I haven't been thrilled at all the big wonderful things that have happened in my life since then (i.e. getting a big girl job, becoming independent, dating, finding my husband, getting married, buying a house...) and what the future held with them but it often got clouded by adult realities. But I think it's important to keep that excitement alive that once fueled our young dreamy minds. There is no reason to ever stop feeling that way!
So, here are a few of my New Years Resolutions:
*Let go of insecurities
*Pursue deeper friendships
*Use my sowing machine
*Get more sleep
*Crochet
*Paint
*Finish our basement
*Organize house
*Make time for crafts
*Plant a garden
*Don't hesitate to act on ideas
*Allow myself to dream
Needless to say, I'm looking forward to a very creative, productive, crafty, restful, and dreamy Brand New Year!
~S.
