We've all seen those photos of planet Earth floating in space, just a tiny dot in a vast universe. It looks so small and makes you feel so insignificant. There's nothing like it to put everything in perspective. Looking at those photos makes me feel…free. It makes me feel like all those little things we fuss and fret over, get anxiety attacks over, they're all unimportant in the grand scheme of things. I came across one of those NASA photos on their Instagram feed recently (yes, my inner nerd follows NASA) and it inspired me to start a new tradition that I wanted to share with you... of spending New Year's Day at the beach. Because staring out at the ocean makes me feel the same way. Free. Like anything is possible. I always come away from the sea refreshed and excited to start new adventures with confidence. I feel a sense of responsibility to be really good at doing what I love in order to live life to its fullest potential because our existence on this blue planet goes by in the blink of an eye and we owe it to ourselves to make our one and only life count.
I always wake up with a ton of new ideas and projects to start and get so frustrated when there isn't enough time or energy to make them all happen. One of my strategies this year is to live more in the present by doing things when I'm inspired to do them and not set them aside for later when I think I'l have more time, because let's face it, we're all super busy and if we wait until we have more time, well, things just won't happen. Of course there will be times when this just won't be possible, but I'm going to try!
Reading through everyone's posts about the new year - I think I'm the only one who's a little sad to see 2013 go. It's my favorite number, after all. Don't laugh, but I feel like 2013 was the year I made my own little personal come back - coming back to doing what I love, even if it wasn't in as grand a way as I would have liked. Coming back to what really matters to me. I feel like I finally got started and even accomplished many of the goals I set out to do. Now I'm looking to build on what I started and really challenge myself to grow my tiny little photography business, to challenge myself with new riding goals, and to make Casa da Nuvea live up to my dream. Adventure awaits!
I had originally meant to share my new tradition with you on New Year's Day but caught a terrible stomach bug and spent the whole time in bed with fever and chills. Not a very auspicious way to start a new year. Ugh. One of my favorite bloggers, Kelli Murray, did a blog post on Making 2014 Count which I really wanted to participate in, but because my stomach flu kept me in bed for much of the first week of 2014, I missed writing about this in time to link up to the prompt. I want to share it with you anyway because I hope some of the posts will inspire you to make 2014 count!
http://www.kellimurray.com/2014/01/03/2014-breathe/
So how about you? Did you start any new traditions this holiday season or plan one for the new year? I'd love to hear what some of you are planning for 2014! What are you going to do to make 2014 count, to get one step closer to living the life you dream of?
And because I don't believe anyone should ask for more blessings from the universe without expressing gratitude for that which you already have...thank you so much for stopping by this little blog of mine. I'm always amazed when anyone takes the time from their busy lives to read anything I write. Thank you.
