Hello 2022!

Hey friends! Happy New Year to you. I sure hope that you enjoyed your holiday season and have been safe + well this last year. I just read my post from last year and it seems that ‘say goodbye to Covid’ did not happen, Dammit! We are all fried and it’s exploded once again with a new variant and we are all so over it.

Let’s not give anymore attention to the C word now, shall we? 😉 Lets focus on the positive things that have happened in the last year. I’m telling you, my little mantra of finding joy in the ordinary comes in handy when things seem blah.

You might have noticed that I am doing a mini blog refresh. My logo and tagline are brand new. Little details will slowly get changed over to match. What does this find joy in the ordinary mean? It simply means that joy is everywhere. Joy is really an abundant thing and often times you don’t have to look very hard for it.

This last year brought a lot of good with it. We did a big remodel in our home, my oldest son turned 18, my youngest turned 16 and my husband turned 50. I turned 47 which doesn’t sound nearly as cool as those other milestone birthdays. We had a fun birthday celebration for my husband. My youngest got his drivers license. We fell even more in-love with our home and community. We celebrated twenty years of marriage with a trip to Nashville. We celebrated our niece’s wedding in Texas. We welcomed our new niece into the world. My brother-in-law got engaged to an awesome woman. The year really did bring about a lot of very special things worth celebrating.

Are you a goal setter for the new year? I don’t like to be cliche with the same ol’ goals but I do like to set little (or sometimes big) goals for myself. I managed to read 21 books in 2021. In 2022 I’ll shoot for 22. Another goal that I’m aiming for is moving my body every day. Maybe yoga, or a walk, a ride on my bike – anything that is good for me physically which translates to good for me mentally. Being still and quiet is something I am not good at and I want to really focus on finding more of those moments.

We laughed, we loved, we cried, we lived. The sum of the emotions are a part of what make us whole. Even as things seem crazy and hectic, we keep living through every second of it. Life. It’s full of stories. It’s full of moments. This became even more apparent to me over the last couple of months. As I was plugging along in a mundane job that paid too little and felt so unrewarding I decided that I was over it. Done. It’s time to work towards things that feed my soul. I need work that makes me feel like I am making a difference. So as I say goodbye to 2021, I’ll also be saying goodbye to my weekday job and working on creating something new and  wonderful. I’m still working out the details in my head but more information will be coming. A couple of years back, someone told me that passion brings success.

Well, I have a several things that I am super passionate about. I am working on a few things that are very much me but I want to work out the details so that I can really thrive in my new work life space. Life is short and honestly, you should spend it doing what you love. It should be something that makes you excited to kick off your work week. I was finding myself feeling annoyed with Mondays because what I was doing felt so unfulfilling. While I am grateful for the employment, I am ready to kick off the New Year with something better. #letsdothis

What ordinary things bring you joy? I challenge you to find joy in your days. In the smallest of things and of course in the big things too. Little snippets of joy are a mood booster. They can give you an endorphin rush and with all that’s happening in this big old world, we need to feel that internal sunshine.

If you are looking for a little inspiration to help you put on your positive pants, check out this article over at Tiny Buddha. They are sharing 10 positive things to do for yourself in the New Year. Self care y’all! It’s always a good idea. Even if you think that you don’t have the time. Taking care of you will make you so much more ready to take care of those around you.

I sure do wish you a very safe + healthy + happy New Year. Feel that sunshine my friends. Radiate it from the inside out.