When 2013 came to a close, I was preparing myself for a new year. I was ready for 2013 to go. It was the hardest year of my life and I needed a fresh perspective on life's purpose and present moment living.
What I learned in 2013 was that we are not promised life. It is only a gift and we need to remember to live in the present moment. My sister told me something that stuck with me. She said that "everything is temporary." In 100 years someone else will be living in your house, someone else will be working at your job and you will only be a memory.
I started 2013 with one word for the new year and it was TRUST. It was unbelievable how much I would need that word. This year I decided on P words. Those words are Pray, Persevere, Plan, Prioritize and most importantly find Peace.
PRAY- I decided that I need more of a prayerful life to reach God. Praying was more of a routine, a "now a lay me down to sleep" or "God is good, God is great" kind of prayer. I needed to get more personal with prayer and to meditate more on what I was saying and to listen to what I was hearing. In my nights of desperation instead of letting my thoughts of 2013 consume me; I started to continually say "Let Go and Let God." This would be my mantra over and over until I fell asleep.
PERSEVERE in the PRESENT- If someone would have told me that I was going to endure what I did in 2013 I would have said "I cannot survive it." But one thing is for sure, time goes on. It goes on whether we are miserable or we are happy. We make the choice. It is not the events in our lives that make a difference, it is how we respond to those events. I decided that I needed to stop feeling sorry for myself and find a way to persevere. It is not easy and some days I just want to stay in bed. However I have a son, a daughter, a husband, a mother, a sister, a brother, nieces, nephews and amazing friends that I want and need to find joy in.
PLAN- A lot of my life is spontaneous, unplanned and unprepared. I find if I start planning ahead I can get control of my life in ways that will make me happier. By working towards finding joy I need to plan. I need to plan clothing for the next day, lunch, dinner and the flow of the day. This starts things out in a less stressful way and I am making strides in my planning. I admit that I work under pressure a lot. Sometimes with my job I cannot plan because I am always reacting. However if I can find areas in my life that I can plan, the other parts of my life will not seem as difficult and overwhelming.
PRIORITIZE- I am a yes person and a people pleaser. I don't want to let people down and I think I can tackle any project or problem. After the words YES come out of my mouth I start realizing that I should have thought about saying yes before saying it. One thing I am remembering is that "when you say no to something you are saying yes to something more important." In 2013 my job nor my commitments to my job were much of a priority. I started realizing that unconditional love, kindness, friends and taking care of family is important. I decided that I need to prioritize people in my life. I have so many friends and family members that I want to spend more time with. I want them to be my priority. I have realized that Lucas has been relying mostly on his dad to get his needs met. I am now prioritizing time with him. We play together. Play is important. "If you are enjoying time wasted, it is not wasted time."
PEACE- In order to have peace in my life I need to work on the other P words above. I am working on finding peace and fighting my fears. Fear is not of God and peace is something that God desires for us. I am a worrier and a fearful person. I do worst case situations in my head. I am working on surrendering to fear. If something happens, there is nothing I can do about it. I can't try to continue controlling my loved ones lives because of my fears. Through 2014 I am going to surrender my fears and let go of trying to control the uncontrollable.
My challenge for you today is to think about what your five "new year" words would be? Somewhat of a mission statement for 2014. I challenge you to write them down and work on them. I challenge you to live in the present moment.
Present moment living is all we have. This is where we can find joy. I am going to work on this, will you?
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