As 2013 came to a close and 2014 began, I spent some time thinking about resolutions and where and who I want to be on December 31, 2014.
- Do I want to lose weight, exercise more, and eat better? Without a doubt.
- Do I want to continue to have new experiences? Definitely.
- Do I want to go professionally and personally? Absolutely.
- Do I want to continue performing Random Acts of Kindness? Of course.
- Do I want to spend more time with my family and friends? Certainly.
- Do I want to write more and even start the book that’s rattling around in my head? Yes.
- Do I want to be a better, happier version of me? Hell Ya.
All of these ideas are wonderful and I can certainly create individual resolutions for each of them, but resolutions don’t really excite me. I have found that I start strong with my resolutions and somewhere along the way, I lose momentum and motivation. I go to the gym enthusiastically for a few weeks, get sick (not related to going to the gym) or super busy at work, stop going while I get well or until the work conflicts end, and then struggle to get back to the gym. You know what I’m talking about, right?
Then it hit me: 2014 doesn’t need resolutions, it needs a theme. A theme that excites me and that I can use as a filter for making decisions.
Celebrate Life.
Simple, right?
I can do this in an endless number of ways. By going to the gym, eating better, sleeping more, drinking more water, writing, hanging out with my family and friends, growing personally and professionally, stepping outside of my comfort zone with more new experiences, performing Random Acts of Kindness, and more.
I can easily decide whether to do something or not by asking myself, “Does doing X help me Celebrate Life?” Yes? Do it. No? Skip it.
Will you join me in Celebrating Life in 2014? How you do it is up to you. You can use some of the ideas I’ll talk about here or you can create your own. However you choose to Celebrate Life, I hope we can share our experiences.
To that end, I’m doing a few things to keep the theme alive and make it easy for us to share how we Celebrate Life.
First, I’ve created a hashtag #CelebrateLife. Just mark your tweets and Facebook posts with #CelebrateLife to keep the conversation going. Post how you Celebrate Life on the Little Merry Sunshine Facebook page. Post comments to Celebrate Life posts here on the blog. Write about how you Celebrate Life on your own blog, let me know and I’ll link to it.
Second, I’m incorporating an idea I found on the It’s a Lovely Life Facebook page. What I love about this idea is that it will give us a tangible way of seeing how we Celebrate Life. You’ll need a jar, any kind will do, and little pieces of paper. I suppose you’ll need a pen, crayon, marker, colored pencil, or #2 pencil as well. Decorate the jar if you’d like, although it’s not required.
Picture used with permission of Heather Reese from It’s a Lovely Life, although she is not the originator of the photo. If this picture belongs to you, please contact me and I’ll gladly give you credit.
I’m going to use the jar to document how I Celebrate Life this year, including what I’m grateful for. Gratitude begets gratitude and is key to Celebrating Life. Every so often, maybe when I need a pick-me-up or just whenever I am so inclined, I’ll open up the jar and recall all the ways I’ve Celebrated Life so far.
Will you join me in Celebrating Life in 2014?
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Filed under: #CelebrateLife
Tags: 2014, family, friends, Resolutions
