2013: A Fresh Start

It’s been a while since I’ve sat down and written a true blog entry. There are plenty of excuses I could give—things have been busy; I’ve had a few areas of my life that have been “rearranged;” other things took priority. But—rather than dwell on the past, I figure 2013 is a fresh start, so I’m looking to the future. But before I plunge on in, here are a few pics from New Year’s Eve. To be honest, I didn’t even really want to go out and celebrate, but hey, I’ve got fun friends. We decided to shake things up and try something new, so we headed to the Hangar 9 party at the downtown airport. It was quite a spectacle--there were several planes on display, arial dancers flowing from the ceiling, and around 1200 people packed in!

{Lotsa sparkle!}

 

Instead of resolutions this year (let’s be honest, who truly keeps those all year long?), I’ve decided to think about just a couple “changes” I want to make in my life. Believe me, these two I am going to share with you are not the only changes I’ve been thinking about. But, I felt like posting these two on here would keep me honest. Hopefully, these are things I can manage and address each day, and “changes” don’t sound as daunting as “resolutions.” I’m going to break these down separately, since they are kind of longer than I thought. So, here we go, with “Change #1.”
 

Change #1: Embrace Optimism

There are a lot of areas of my life that I think I can apply this change to. I’m trying not to get into the clichés and overly used idioms here, but quite simply, I need to realize the good, happy things around me, and let go of the negative thoughts. There are a couple of ways I’m approaching this change, and I feel like I am really trying to open myself up to the idea of happiness. I know that no one is happy every single day, all day, but there are little things I can do to promote optimism. I’m going to try and laugh (like, really, truly laugh) at school at least once a day. I tend to get caught up in and dwell on stressful situations at school—kids who are rude or disrespectful, grades I need to get caught up on, other colleagues who annoy me. (Wow. That sounds negative!) But, there are students who are funny, and bright, and who work hard. There are curricular units and assignments I’ve created that I am proud of. And there are plenty of people at work who I count as friends. I need to spend more energy on these things, and let go of some of the things I can’t change. Outside of work, I have many dear friends and a wonderful family who love and support me. I want to spend more time with these people, and really appreciate the positive things I have in my life.