Change is good

Sometimes you just need a little change. It’s a new year – 2016 (can you believe it??) – and I decided this blog needed a little facelift and a new look. I can say that last year did NOT go quite as planned. However, I can also say that in spite of some pretty heartbreaking circumstances, it might have been my best year yet. Last year I made a LOT of changes. I cleared some cobwebs out of my heart, purged all my stuff and freed myself of some excess baggage, downsized my life (and upsized my living), and woke up to what has turned out to be a really good life.

I’m kind of proud of myself. Don’t get me wrong. 2015 wasn’t the easiest year. In fact, most of it was pretty hard, and parts of it were downright brutal. Waking up can be painful. We get cozy tucked in our warm, safe, well-known lives, so when it’s time to wake up to something new, it can be hard. But, as Glennon Doyle Melton so aptly puts it, “We can do hard things.” I just read her book, Carry on, Warrior, in about 6 hours over this past weekend. There were so many things I loved about it. Her honest revelation of an often challenging life had me saying, “Yes! I get that!” One of my favorite lines, though, and the one that will absolutely stick with me was this: “Let go and believe that whatever it is, it will be beautiful (p 263).” Seriously. “Let go and believe that whatever it is, it will be beautiful.”

This might be my mantra for 2016. I gave up on New Year’s Resolutions a long time ago, because I usually just ended up failing miserably at them, then feeling guilt and remorse for being such a resolution reject. I saw an idea circulating on Facebook wherein people were choosing “their word” for the year. I waited a while for my word to come. When it did, it was so clearly the word I needed. It’s trust. I need to trust myself. Trust my journey. Trust God. Trust my friends. Trust my inner wisdom. Trust my gifts. Trust my training. TRUST. And, I need to let go and believe that whatever it is, it will be beautiful.

I actually think I do believe that. In this moment, anyway, despite the relative lack of beauty in this dreadfully rainy day. Usually the absence of sun puts me in really negative space. But, today my focus is elsewhere. I’ve been practicing gratitude lately, and it makes all the difference. Changing one’s perspective, much like freshening one’s space (even virtual space), can serve us in so many ways. It’s like waking up to a new day with renewed energy and anticipation.

So, bring it on, 2016. This year will be different. I will trust. I will keep being brave and inviting change. I will “Let go and believe that whatever it is, it will be beautiful.”

May it be so.