Every year I send out a Happy New Year card with a few family photos and a short note keeping everyone informed of what’s happened in the last year. If I had your address, I’d send it to you too! But the airwaves will have to do. Here’s to 2018!
This year was filled with highs and lows. Some very painful times and some beautiful, joyous times. Gotta be honest – not ready to share about the pain yet, but I know it’s preparing me for something bigger. And I know soon, I’ll be ready to integrate it into my story so I can keep spreading the message that happiness is attainable, regardless of what you’re going through. For now, I’ll share that I am eternally grateful that my work focuses on happiness, because that’s the one thing that’s kept me sane – and through it all, surprisingly, for-the-most-part, happy! I can promise you the strategies I teach work – I’ve been testing them all year! ?
For starters, I’ve gotten healthier in 2018. In January the Hottie Hubby and I started working out 3 mornings a week with a trainer and that has proven to be, frankly, life changing. Wish I could say I’ve lost lots of weight or am training for a marathon, but alas, it wouldn’t be true. I do feel better though and feel the money I’ve invested in a trainer is some of the best I’ve ever spent and I highly recommend it to you for 2019!
We’ve simplified. In March we downsized to a cute little 3 bedroom home and my hubs bought a used Chevy Volt (electric plug in car). We can go weeks without putting gas in it. We both get a huge charge (get it, a charge? LOL!) out of that!
I’m down to only one kiddo at home. Our youngest, Jordan, started his senior year… and football! He had never played an organized sport and decided to take up football as a senior. He even lettered! He enjoyed the novelty of it so much, he’s now joined the dive team (came in third at his first meet) and just informed me last week that he’s going out for the Lacrosse team (hadn’t held a stick before the first practice.) He’s my reminder of how we should all live fearlessly.
The highlight of the year came with 2 new grand-babies. We’ve now been blessed with 4 grand-babies (3 boys, 1 girl) in 18 months. They’ll all be with us Christmas morning! What fun….and chaos! ?
Although I’ve shared only the good stuff of this year, it hasn’t all been pretty. I know 2018 was particularly challenging for A LOT of people, so please, know that I’m right there beside you, going through it just like the rest of you.
This year one of my dearest friends gave me a beautiful gift that will remain priceless to me. She’s intimately familiar with my struggles of this past year, and in the note that accompanied the gift, she had this quote:
“her soul is fierce, her heart is brave, her mind is strong” ~r.h.sin
That’s what I’m wishing for each and every one of you in 2019 – a soul that is fierce, a heart that is brave and a mind that is strong! And of course, unbounded happiness through all of it!
