Get Your Kitty Calendar Out

The new year is now upon us.   It’s official.  It’s time to get out those kitty calendars or your joke a day calendar and begin filling in all those empty days.  I’ve been working on our family calendar this weekend and think by the end of the day, I’ll have ours filled clear through to April and even possibly a few items on the May calendar as well. 

The new year seems to give us permission to start fresh, throw out the old and in with the new.   I have been thinking about what I’d like to do differently for this coming year and find myself filled with grand ideas and new promises I probably won’t keep for myself.   The one that comes to mind most frequently though is a simple one really.

Enjoy this life I’ve been given and stop worrying about all the things I cannot change.

I tend to control or think I should control all that is able to be controlled and frankly, it stresses me out most days.  I waste more time worrying about all the things that are not that important and end up spoiling many days doing so.   I want to control that impulse - funny huh?  I want to “control” the impulse to “control” everything. 

I know this is no easy task as this is a personality trait that I am not fond of and am very aware of and in tune to.   It’s on my mind all the time, so letting go of it is definitely going to be a challenge, but I need to do this or I’m going to wear myself out.  I need a few empty spaces on my calendar this year.

The world isn’t going to cave in around me if I don’t have the house spotless when someone comes over or don’t have the laundry done.  It would probably do me some good to pull out a pair of jeans from the dirty clothes and wear them again.  Just to prove to myself that the world will go on. 

I’ve noticed lately as well that I’ve been making my way to a new section of the library and my favorite hang out spot, Barnes and Noble.  I have a pretty extensive reading list this year and it includes more than just fiction and stories of walks by the ocean.  I want to read The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown, Taking Flight by Kelly Rae Roberts, The Miracle Detective by Randall Sullivan just to name a few. 

In this new year, our calendars will be filled with this and that, but I hope to leave a little white space in there as well for reading, spirit filling activities, and time to be creative. I hope that this new year will allow you to dream big, be who you are meant to be and allow you to see all the doors and windows of possibility that exist for you (and me).  Happy New Year.

Honked at When the Light is Green

Do you ever have those moments when you’re lost in thought?  A moment you wish you were somewhere else.  A moment you wish you could be magic.  My moments tend to come at stoplights and have been honked at for sitting at the “green” too long. (Obviously the person behind me wasn’t in a thoughtful moment and apparently wished I wasn’t in mine.)

It’s at the stoplight that I wonder what it would be like to live by the sea.  Literally, right on the beach.  Not a California type of beach, but an English countryside type of beach with cliffs and rocks.  Would I sit outside everyday? Would I get tired of hearing the waves?  Would I collect sea glass and put it in a basket by the window?

It’s at the stoplight that I wonder what it would be like to have girls.  As a mother of two boys, I KNOW it would be different.  Would they hold my hand in the store?  Would they talk more than I do?  Would they be tomboys and play in the dirt or cry when they got dirt on their elbows?

It’s at the stoplight that I wonder if I could ever live in New York City.  Would I take advantage of all the museums and galleries or just stay in every night.   Would I take an acting class on Tuesday nights and a knitting class Saturday mornings?  Would I ever get used to the noise? 

It’s at the stoplight that I wonder if I’m doing enough as a mom for my children.  Am I doing too much?  Should I bend the rules more? Will they look back as adults and think fondly of their childhoods?  Do I worry about the little things too much?

My mind never really stops thinking and often have to remind myself that it’s ok to wonder.  Wondering is good for the soul.  It’s good for me.