QUESTIONS FOR THE NEW YEAR

THE QUESTIONS FOR THE NEW YEAR

The New Year is a fresh start and a new chapter waiting to be written. We write our own book.

In reflecting on the past year I have to imagine what excited me the most? What made me the happiest?

I believe that we all glow when we are at our happiest so it only seemed fit to think back on what happened to actually get me excited last year. I used my journal from 2023 to read my own words about the people, my habits, and choices that I made that helped to bring me joy. From that point, it was easy to continue and expand on those ideas. 

One of the best decisions that I made was to take a healthy journey and learn great nutritional habits that will be with me for my lifetime. It was amazing as the weight started melting off. Even more impressive was how much better that I felt within myself. I had so much more energy, my joints did not ache, my closet and drawers were cleaned out slowly but surely of clothes that were WAY too big for me. 

Which in turn, I did have some older clothes that I loved and did hang on to hanging in the back of my closet and drawers. Guess what? Now they fit! As time goes on, some of these are even too big and I am now buying a few new things along the way. Being a clothes horse, it really makes me happy that I now enjoy getting new clothes in regular sizes. This picture is in a new and fun sweatshirt about my feelings of Winter. I am 83 pounds down when this one was taken.😃To say this makes me happy is definitely an understatement.

The people who brought me joy were my family; both those that I live with and those that live away and we all visit each other from time to time. Also, my good friends - those that I see on a regular basis and those that I don't get to be with except on social media. The person who helped me get on my healthy journal - My COACH! She is the best support system for me and is always there to answer my questions and help me along the path. I am almost there and then she will be there to get me through maintenance and beyond. She is more than a coach; she is a very good friend!

The next question that is important to reflect upon is to think about what it was that drained me. Things or people that brought me down. Events and situations can happen that may be totally out of my control. Some of what seemed to drain me, if I allowed it to, would be situations when out driving, or coming face to face or on the phone with a rude customer service representative (that is an oxymoron). Luckily, that did not happen often but when it happened, my ticket out of being sucked down the drain with them was to just think of one reason to remain joyful. Something that I am grateful for. OK - to be totally honest with you, there are times that I must think of more than just one reason to remain joyful. Imagine? It is not that hard to think about what I feel grateful for in my life. Those reasons are all around me and always swirling about in my head.

The third and fourth questions for 2024 go together. What do I want more of and what do I need less of for this upcoming year? I definitely want more of the good way that I am living my life. To continue to stay on my healthy journey, definitely to continue to shop for new clothes (without going overboard - which kind of fits in what I need less of, such as shoes, handbags and just general clutter). One question that I now stop and ask myself before purchasing something is if I already have something similar, where am I going to put this new item and is it really necessary? 

Spending more time in the kitchen being creative makes me very happy. I miss spending my time cooking with Steve so very much. Many times, I can feel him with me as I add a little of this and a little of that to my recipes. Or even as I search for new recipes. 

After reading a book called, The Gifts They Left Behind by April Rohde really opened my eyes and allowed me to feel what I was truly feeling. It validated my thoughts about Steve being all around me. He seems to come to me in the form of a cardinal. I got busy getting the bird feeder ready outside my window after the snow and rain left our area and every day the same cardinal comes to get the special seed that I put in it. My daughter gave me a cardinal snow globe that lights up and one of my granddaughters saw a page of cardinal stickers when she was out shopping for other things and she thought of me and cardinals/Steve (or as he is known to all of the granddaughters - Smiley). I have a picture of the cardinal outside of my study window through the shutters. So it is not exactly perfectly clear. The windows need a good cleaning when Spring Time comes but I am sure that you get the idea.

When cardinals appear, angels are near. This is my belief and for me, my cardinal is very special to me. The book that I mentioned above reminded me that when I believe beyond what I can see, signs from heaven show up to remind me that love never dies.

This is my story and I intend to always make it beautiful.