December 9 Challenge. Something that really made you grow this year. That made you go to your edge and then some. What made it the best challenge of the year for you?
We all have challenging lives, don't we? I think that we do. I try to always remember that I walk only in my shoes, that my life's experience is only my own, that there's no way I'll ever truly comprehend how another person has walked on this earth as all our experiences are always uniquely our own.
My own life this year has been one where I have truly made a large effort to show up in important ways. To take care of me first. To admit that I am worth it. It is easy for me to ignore my own needs and my own drama by jumping in and participating in all the needs and drama that swirls around me.
This year, I really wanted to be my own project. Starting in January, just after my birthday, I knew that I was in a bit of psychic and bi-polar trouble and if I didn't address it the spiral downward was going to only take me to places both familiar and dark, but places where a bright and shiny soul does not flourish.
I found a really good therapist. I committed to me by reviving my yoga practice. I reduced my stress around money by getting rid of all my credit cards, living a cash-only life and deciding that 2009 would be the year of "nothing new". This wasn't a punishment so much as a realignment for my own relationship with the consumer inside of me. I am a woman who sometimes shops just to shop, to fill an empty space, and then ends up with things I do not need. My year of nothing new was truly an exercise for me in re-educating myself in the very real difference between want and need and the very real value in the gifts that I receive and the things I already own.
Beyond this, I re-organized my work life so that I am supported, but only working at the hospital part-time. I embraced Utah, I worked to make peace with my family, I made sure to say Yes far more than No to the invitations from friends when they were offered. Saying yes has become one of the greatest gifts of all.
By saying yes to me, I am able to live a vibrant and healthy and grounded life that is balanced. There is so much vibrant joy for me in the spaces I have created to truly just breathe.
