Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I had great plans to start the year out with a post about my non-resolutions resolution.  I blinked and missed the whole first week of January.  Seriously, time flew.  Here it is January 7^th and I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact it is 2014!

I admit I am like the majority of people and usually throw out a couple of resolutions knowing full well I won’t make it past the first few weeks before I break them.  It is easy to laugh off a resolution to lose weight or exercise more.  They are the standard resolutions bandied about and dismissed after a few weeks, right?  Why is that?

A resolution by its very definition can be hard work.  Getting in shape after being an absolute slug for the previous twelve months requires commitment – not to mention sore muscles that make walking agony.  Somewhere along the line it becomes too hard to find time in a busy schedule to go to gym.  Old habits rear their ugly heads and after a long day the couch holds more appeal than sweating through an exercise class. I guess I want instant gratification and grow impatient.  Ouch.

I did something a little different this time. I looked at the shiny expanse of a new year filled with endless possibilities and then turned back to review the year that just ended.  I discovered something amazing.  My year had been filled with incredible events and excitement!  Sadly, I missed the significance of much of it at the time because I was too focused on where I thought I was failing.  It took looking back at the year as a whole to put everything in perspective and finally recognize my achievements.

I knew I didn’t want to set myself up for failure and inadvertently dull the shimmering promise stretched before me with this year.  I didn’t want to feel discouraged before the year even got a good start.  I sure as heck didn’t want to miss those incredible moments I had overlooked in 2013 because I was too focused on all that still needed to be done.

Thus, my non-resolution resolution came into being.  Instead of resolutions I will probably break I am tasking myself with living in the moment, to savor all the successes – big or small – that happen over the next twelve months.  I plan to be kinder to myself and think in terms of doable changes to improve my health and well-being, not go at it hard and heavy right out of the gate and burn myself out with discouragement.  I will nurture my friendships and the people I love. I give myself permission to laugh myself silly on occasion and enjoy the ridiculous. I won’t be as hesitant to explore new things or take the road less traveled. Side roads can prove more interesting than the direct path and still get me where I am going in the end.

I want to see the end of 2014 as the year I enjoyed to its fullest.  No regrets.

I hope each of you follow your dreams in 2014 and enjoy every success.  I plan to   🙂