This year we’re celebrating New Year’s Eve with a group of people we dearly love. That holds a reliable promise for a lot of fun and laughter. Hubby and I are really looking forward to it.
But every year, that isn’t the case. Some New Year’s Eves, we’ve chosen to spend the evening in quiet. Sometimes due to health—hard to celebrate with strep throat—sometimes because we’d recently lost a loved one—grief and parties don’t typically mix well—and sometimes because we’ve just exhausted ourselves in the season and we need to be calm and still for a while.
We’re no different than any other couple. We all have lives that impact us at a given time, and we need to respect where we are and what we need as well as what we might want.
For some, the trees are down, the gifts have been shared, we’ve been to the last social function of the season, and while we’re tired from all the hoopla, we’re also feeling a little blah because we’ve gone from lives that had propelled through frantic-speed and slowed back to normal. We’re now having a little issue with the transition.
But this rough transition is really an opportunity in disguise. It means we have the chance to seize the moment and kick the blahs out on their foolish elbow, which is where they belong. Let me backtrack a little so I’m clear…
Last year, a dear friend was shocked at the way I’d accepted having a subdued New Year’s Eve celebration. It was a quiet one. Very quiet. Frankly, I was shocked that she was shocked. Many heralded in the New Year quietly. Some were dealing with issues, some chose quiet because they preferred it, and some because they felt they had no choice.
For those who preferred it, they’re content. For those dealing with issues, they might or might not have been okay with quietly ringing the new year, but regardless, they’re coping with what life’s put in their path. We all know, the alternative is less appealing and feeling like roadkill isn’t a good mindset for starting out a new year.
Most of us consider the New Year a time for fresh starts and new beginnings—a season of hope for a future that makes us more content. This group who exercised their preference for quiet knows we all endure trials and challenges in life—no one is given a pass—and it’s just our season to endure them. Everyone has such seasons. But the awareness of that fact does help to give us the strength to endure what we must with more dignity and grace. So this group, too, is doing just fine. Looking forward to stepping into the light at the end of tunnel of trials, but doing just fine.
It is the group that feels it has “no choice” that has the least opportunity for contentment. That is, unless they develop the right attitude toward their current state and position.
That “no choice” outlook or perspective is also a choice and, if we see ourselves in that group, then we need to take steps to get ourselves out of it. We can all do something. Maybe not everything, but something, and that is the point.
If you see yourself in that no-choice group, look at your situation—the big picture—and then look for something to do that you will enjoy that will also feed your soul.
Big tip: You will never feel content if your soul is starving. Feeding your soul is the secret key to contentment.
So bearing that tip in mind, here are some prosperity ideas:
If you’re alone and don’t want to be:
- Invite a few friends or neighbors over who will be alone, too. Play board games, cards, Twister—do something together.
- If your friends are away and the neighbors are busy, then volunteer somewhere so you’re around othersdoing something worth doing. It’s fulfilling to do something kind for someone else. It makes you feel good, and that takes the sting out of otherwise being alone when you’d rather not be, and that fosters contentment for the uplifting.
- If you’re feeling more reflective and not hungering for others’ company, then stay home alone but do something constructive. Sit down and think back to where you’ve been in the past year and where you want to be at the end of next year. Spend your time crafting a vision of how you want to change your life and then realistic, small steps you can take to get from where you are to what you want. It takes thought to know what you want, concrete actions to make it a reality. Thought to action to manifestation = your envisioned life.
You know, if we just drift through life from year to year without ever pausing to think about what we want most, there will come a day when we meet our eyes in the mirror and regret that we didn’t put more thought into it and more effort into making it happen. If we don’t like our lives, we have the power and ability to change them. Having a plan gives us a great chance for making those changes.
So you’ve tried that before and failed. Well, haven’t we all? Who says this time you’ll fail? You only fail if you stop trying, right? So try again. I doubt Franklin got electricity in one shot. Or Bell the phone, or Edison, or the guy next door. We all try and fail.
We try, we fail, we make progress, we see what didn’t work and try other things, and eventually we fail our way to success. All because we don’t quit. We keep trying—and celebrating every gain. So we didn’t create our dream life this time. So what? We got a little closer to it than we were before. That’s worth celebrating.
Maybe you love your life but you don’t like the way you handle specific situations or events in your life. Now is the time to think of how you’d change your actions and reactions. Both matter.
Many will make the same resolutions this year that they’ve made last year and the year before, and perhaps the year before that. And many won’t keep those resolutions this year any more than they have in years past. Why?
Typically, because they make radical changes instead of incremental ones. Big changes disrupt, and when they don’t get the results they want immediately, they quit. They try to eat a whole bear in one sitting rather than in small meals. So, whatever your “bear” is, remember that. Little bites, little bits at the time, many times.
Celebrate each bite. Each move you make toward conquering your bear. If you stay focused on the increments, you’ll find yourself getting closer and closer to conquering your bear and reaching your goal. Whether that bear is to break a bad habit, to change a behavior of yours that doesn’t serve you well, or doing something constructive to help you personally or in your career—you can conquer the bear a bite at the time.
- Unleash the power of your mind. This is a chance for a fresh start and a new beginning. It’s a chance open to everyone. But every single one has to choose to seize that chance. The reason you choose to seize it or not to seize it is personal. Understanding why it’s personal will reveal your motivation for doing it or not doing it.
Remember that for changes to take hold and become natural to you, the motivation must speak to you on three levels: physical, emotional and spiritual. That’s your three-legged stool, and if one leg is short, your stool’s on shaky ground. It will wobble. If any one leg is too short, your stool is going to tip over and dump you on your backside. So for your best chance of success make sure you understand your motive for tackling the bear in all three: physical, emotional and spiritual.
Example: You choose to lose weight.
Physically, you know the benefits. Stronger body, better health.
Emotionally, you know the benefits. Stronger body creates a stronger mind. More nimble and quick. Better emotional health and a better attitude about yourself. You look better, you feel better.
Spiritually, you know the benefits. If your mind and body are in a better place and don’t require as much of your energy to be focused on them, you can spend that energy and time on your spiritual self. Seeking balance in your life. Being serene and tranquil and content. What will take to get there from where you are now? What are the advantages of being there? What are the advantages of the journey to there? Lots of perks in the journey, lots of incremental times and things to celebrate. That puts the kibosh on the blahs.
All of these things speak to your motivation for wanting to lose weight. All of these things provide insight into what you really think and want. And they make you consciously aware of why you want them. The benefits to you are specific on all three levels.
Armed with all that, you’ve greatly enhanced your odds for success.
Implement your plan of thought and action and you’re on your way to creating the you that you seek to become in the new year. One increment at a time, you seize your fresh start and celebrate it—and if you’re celebrating your contentment at accomplishing what you set out to do, that doesn’t leave a lot of room for the blahs. As we all know, blahs love empty space and idleness.
Many associate chances with January first, and when it comes and goes, it’s gone. But chances for seizing that which makes us content doesn’t just happen on January first. Chances come all day and night every day and night. At any moment in any day or night. Chances come at any moment you spot a chance and decide to seize it and then act on it. Dates on a calendar do not chances make! You create them by making a decision to create a chance for yourself.
And if you backslide, don’t despair. Start over with a new chance. That’s the thing about chances you create. There’s a lifetime, abundant supply, there for the seizing anytime you choose.
So, know you create chances whenever you like, and follow the winning recipe. Create constructive chances, then seize and act on them.
Seizing a self-created chance and taking action will help the more content you so much you’ll be asking yourself, “Blahs? What blahs? I’m building a content life here. I have no time for blahs!”
Conquer your bear. One bit at a time.
And have a blessed and safe new year!
Blessings,
Vicki
Christians Read 