"We
will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on
them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter
is New Year's Day."
~Edith Lovejoy Pierce~
(Images from Karen's Whimsy)
There is something so anticipatory about being on the cusp of a new year with all those neat blank squares on the calender pages waiting to be filled with living. I feel ready to rise up to the challenges the new year might present and excited over the opportunities that might come my way. Mostly I am grateful to have made it through this past year. This will not be a time where I will want to reflect back overmuch choosing instead to set my sights forward.
I have spent months in personal preparation for the new years arrival knowing changes would be on the horizon. Now that is is finally here I feel a tad bit at loose ends as to how to begin at a brand new beginning. This is the year that I need to start to earn a viable, rather than the current sporadic, income from playing with words, paper, or fibers or else I will need to enter the workforce. I can only imagine who would hire me when my resume reads something like this: Skills: Plays with paper, paint, scissors, and glue, often with wire, beads, and fibers too.
Everything is in readiness. My home has been prepared by a thorough culling and cleaning to help with easier maintenance. The studio stands open awaiting the creative process to begin. The writing cottage has been turned inside out and is ready for the sounds of tapping or scribbling out of words. I have untangled myself from any unnecessary commitments and really taken stock of what is needful at this juncture in life. After careful consideration a 10 week course is about to embarked upon to help me get going in the right direction. A new schedule has been drawn up with actual built in work days and times. The hardest part will be consistency on my part and enforcing boundaries for those who have grown use to my flexible availability.
I am feeling anxious, excited, and open to change. I anticipate that something wonderful this way comes whether it is through a chosen path or an unexpected avenue. My plan is simple, I will journey along at a steady pace stepping toward one realistic goal at a time. This year I make no bold statements or resolutions, I choose no word to manifest itself from time to time in the coming year, I make no promises for paths to follow, my only aim to remain faithful to the one thing that is most needful at any given moment and live the new year one moment, one circumstance, one breath at a time, no running ahead, no falling back, just being present in the present.
"Here's to the bright New Year
And a fond farewell to the old;
Here's to the things that are yet to come
And to the memories that we hold."
And a fond farewell to the old;
Here's to the things that are yet to come
And to the memories that we hold."
~Irish Blessing~
May a blessed and Happy New Year be yours!
