🏞 Life is a Journey
It’s a New Year and a time for new beginnings. If you have not taken the time to sit and reflect on the past year and to think about how this year will be different, this is a great time to get started. Some people think you must set some big goal to achieve in the New Year, but I see things differently. I like to go to a quiet place during that first week of January and write out everything I achieved in the previous year, as well as those things I did not get around to doing.

We all have those things we intended to do, but life got in the way. Then, I reflect on what I might want to do better in the future. It might be as simple as picking up the phone each week and connecting with someone I have not seen or talked to recently. I might decide to be more fully present in all conversations or commit to spending quiet time each day by myself.  

Life is a journey filled with mystery, excitement, learning opportunities, gains, and losses. Life is our greatest teacher. It teaches us what works and what does not. It shows us what is truly important and who matters. It also gives us a chance to start over each year and to apply what we have learned, making the journey more enjoyable and more valuable moving forward. When you reflect back, also take time to soak in the good stuff, and when you look forward, ask yourself how this year can make a difference in your life and those around you. Embrace the New Year, and let’s put 2022 in a box on the shelf. It will be there if you need it, but it should not get in the way of all the new and wonderful opportunities that are waiting to come your way this year.

Something to Think About
The more you expose yourself to new things each day, the more learning opportunities you will have.

Weekly Challenge
Start a journal for 2023 with those things mentioned above as your chapter one. Then as you go through the year, jot down those things that you learn along the way and the lessons that life teaches you.  At the end of the year, write down your reflections from the past year, then put them away.

Words of Wisdom
“Every sunset is an opportunity to reset. Every sunrise begins with new eyes.” — Richie Norton

“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet? ― L.M. Montgomery

“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.” — Joseph Campbell

“This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change.” ― Taylor Swift

“The chief beauty about time is that you cannot waste it in advance. The next year, the next day, and the next hour are lying ready for you, as perfect, as unspoiled, as if you had never wasted or misapplied a single moment in all your life. You can turn over a new leaf every hour if you choose.”  ― Arnold Bennett