Flash back to January 1, 2011.
I woke to another new year and another year in the books. Another year of the same old same old. As a fellow blogger put it, it was another year having the same adventure over and over instead of a year of having a new adventure.
And so, as most people do, I started to think about what I wanted 2011 to bring. Not resolutions per se, since I’m not a big resolutions kinda gal, but more about what I hoped to accomplish this year. That’s the thing about January 1sts for me – they’re filled with such hope for the year ahead and/or sadness that the past year didn’t really go as I hoped.
As readers of this blog, you know the story: Chuck and I decided that afternoon to move. Late January we flew back to Kona and Maui to see if we really wanted to move to either. We decided sometime in February to move to Kona, sold the house, sold 1/2 our stuff, stored the rest and moved to Kona in June 2011.
And so this January 1st, I woke to a whole new life in a whole new place and a whole new appreciation and love of life.
I can’t even begin to describe the fulfillment I felt starting this year. That we had done what we dreamed of doing. And not only that, but we loved our new life. It was one of the best decisions I/we ever made. And the reality was even better than I ever imagined.
Doing what we did seems easy now even though at the time it seemed like a big undertaking and very scary. It makes me wonder why we didn’t do it sooner or why more people don’t go live their dreams.
One thing that this past year has taught me is I am truly in the driver’s seat for this next year and frankly for the rest of my life. Instead of things happening to me and around me, I can make what I wanted to happen. I have control over more than I realized and I can set the course of my life much easier than I thought.
It sounds strange now, but I realize how passive I was in my life letting things happen to me instead of the other way around.
So this January 1st was a bit different. Instead of wondering what the year would hold and hoping to do this or that, I dreamed up what I wanted to make happen. I was able to think “where do I want to be sitting this time next year?”. Not just literally where, but who did I want to be and what did I want to do this year.
I have a few focuses for the year ahead which maybe I’ll share at a later date. And I have a motto for the year too: “Have fun and grow” which for me means learning, doing and experiencing what the world has to offer. And to get the ball rolling, Chuck & I have already started sailing lessons.
What is your dream for the next year? If you could choose what your life looked liked January 1, 2013, what would it look like and who would you be?