A Toast to 2011

It’s hard to believe that yet another year has gone by. This thing called time is flying! *smh* Last night when the ball dropped and I saw the numbers 2011 light up, I was flabbergasted. 2011? Really?! I thought by now cars would be flying through the skies and we’d be living like the Jetsons. (I mean, who doesn’t want a robotic live-in maid?!) But, alas, our feet (and cars!) are still firmly planted on the ground.

I tried to think back on 2010 to determine whether it was a good year or a year that could’ve used some improvement (a diplomatic way to say “bad”), and I honestly couldn’t remember much about it! This year was, quite literally, a blur! There were definitely some good points. And I feel accomplished for being able to say that 2010 was my first full year of being a New Yorker! November 10 marked my one-year anniversary in the Big Apple. I cannot believe that I’ve been living in the City for over a year now! It’s been a largely positive experience. Oh, trust that there have been moments where I’ve wondered whether I should pack it up and move back to DC, but now I’ve found my groove… and, God-willing, I won’t be heading home for a long, long time.

Mostly, I’m just looking forward to what 2011 will bring. I have a good feeling about this year, and I’m expecting to continue to be abundantly blessed. The Lord has put some good people in my life, and has certainly allowed me to prosper in ways I never thought possible. I have faith that things will only get better as years go by.

I have a few goals for 2011, and they are (in no particular order):

To finally win the Battle of the Bulge. It’s been a long time coming and, quite frankly, I’m tired of being fat! I think that’s one of the reasons that I’ve been somewhat dissatisfied with myself for the past several years… because when you’re not looking your best, you tend not to feel your best. So I hope to drop somewhere between 30-50 lbs by the dawn of 2012. More on that later.

To finish the projects I start. To most people, this doesn’t seem like much, I’m sure. But I have a HUGE issue with starting things and never finishing them. Over the years, I’ve started writing no less than four novels. I’ve started business plans for at least three entrepreneurial efforts, and never brought them to fruition. I’ve started exercising and given up on the gym after three or four months of really going in. Etcetera. I’m tired of being half-assed. This will stop in 2011, beginning with me taking my blog back. (To be discussed in greater detail in a future post.

To try new things and challenge myself. I am a plain old steak, potatoes, apple pie kind of girl (which explains the need for goal #1 above!), and don’t really like to deviate from the comfort of what I know. I don’t like “ethnic” foods (beyond your standard Mexican and Italian). Or… at least I don’t THINK I like “ethnic” food. But I haven’t tried most of it to even know whether I like it or not. And that’s just dumb. I know it, but for some reason it’s hard for me to step outside of the box with most things. Now my affinity for American comfort food is just an example of my closed-mindedness. I don’t plan to venture too far outside of my lane with the food thing this year, but I promise to be more open to the possibility. And that goes for things other than food as well. As I’ve mentioned once (or a thousand times) I am extremely risk averse (this is why my move to NYC was SUCH a HUGE deal!), but plan to cure myself of my severe case of analytical paralysis. I’m going to work on throwing caution to the wind and trying new things. Stay tuned.

To let the past be the past and to be hopeful about my future. This goal means the most to me. I am working on learning to live in the “now”. This moment, right now, is all that we have and all that we are guaranteed. And, for that reason, it is up to me to do the most I can with it. But in order to do that, I’ve got to let go of what happened in the past. What’s done is done. I can’t do a thing to change it. And so I’ve got to move on from it. That means letting go of past hurts and disappointments. My heart was broken in 2010, and getting over that was a long and arduous process that is actually ongoing. But that’s the past, it’s over and done, and now it’s time to move on from this… and other things as well. And similarly, I’ve got to stop being anxious about the future. First of all, tomorrow is not promised. Secondly, whatever happens in the future is God’s will, and if I lean on my FAITH, there’s no need to worry about what the future will bring.

Today is the first day of the rest of our lives. That’s exciting and thrilling and amazing and terrifying. But, the best part of it all is that 2011 is a blank canvass. Let us use the tools we’ve been given to paint a perfect picture. Here’s to 2011 and moving onward and upward into the future.