Happy New Year! The time has come to get back into the grind of things. Time to shake off the holiday vibes and try and get ourselves back into normal routines, while once again adjusting to online learning and working from home for many. A new year should bring hope and excitement. Motivation to make changes, be a better version of yourself. But again, this year we are faced with limitations, negativity and frustrations. How we choose to respond to the continually changing legislations may determine what the new year will bring for us.
For myself, I choose to not only try to look for the light at the end of the tunnel, but also to find the light shining in through cracks and holes along the way. They may be hard to find at times, but they will always be there. One of the most important life lessons I’ve learned during my relatively short (I like to think so anyways) time on this planet is that life is too short to be focusing on the darkness in the tunnel. Eleven years ago, my family learned this lesson in one of the hardest ways possible, but it has helped change my outlook on life. It’s not a change that happened quickly and I still have much to continue to adjust, but each new year I try to find ways to resolve not the physical, trivial aspects of my day-to-day life, but my outlook. I believe if we change how we look at our lives, the smaller things will all fall into place on their own.
Happiness, love, peace, positivity, comfort; all feelings which cannot be ordered from Amazon. They are parts of ourselves we may need to work to find, but once we have a hold of them, we should do our best to store them deep in our souls. My resolutions this year are to not feel guilty if I need to get out that bag of chocolate I hid in the freezer, after a long morning of dealing with a two-year old’s terrible temper tantrums. I will stare a little longer into his sparkling blue eyes as they glitter with glee as he cuddles up in his new Dinosaur bedsheets. I will cherish time spent with my family, be present in the moments, soak in the laughter, tears, hugs and kisses.
The scale can stay under the sink. I’d rather listen to my body and do what feels right. Spend the morning in the snow with my munchkin, instead of in the basement doing a workout in front of a screen. You never know when a curve ball will be thrown at you during your journey, so we’re better off to keep our outlooks focused on what makes us happy to be here.
One of my favourite quotes from the Great Big Sea song, ‘Here and Now’, is “The hardest part of life, is to live while you’re alive my friend!” This really hits home for me. We get so caught up in the tasks we feel need to get done each day, that we forget to make time for the things we want to do. Activities that truly make us happy. We don’t need to be traveling to somewhere warm or eating out in restaurants to be happy. Find a special place in the bush to make your getaway place, where you can roast hot dogs and marshmallows. Take half an hour a day to sit and read your favourite book, or for a nap. Play hockey on the out-door rink with your kids. Cuddle a little longer, make the Cricut craft you’ve been planning for ages. Cook a romantic dinner at home.
Life is too short not to live while we’re alive!
