1.02.2013

{Happy 2013}

For the first time ever, I put some thought in to what I hope to get out of this year.  It is simply to have a Happy 2013, as best I can.  The last several years, I have promised in the New Year to give up queso, drinking, or insert bad habit you think I might have.  But, I wanted this year to be different because I am different. 

Since getting married, getting a real job, getting dogs, taking on more responsiblity, and well.....becoming an adult, my sweet mother has had to give me several pep talks over the past couple of years.  Many of them are sweet kind and encouraging, but some of them are the ones that end with some sort of phrase that goes like, "You need to stop crying, be grateful, and put your big girl panties on and deal with it."  And though I sometimes end the calls cursing her, she is right.  Sometimes, if not all times, you have a responsibility to take things in to your own hands.  I believe this includes your happiness.

In addition to those little talks from my sweet mother, I also reed "The Happiness Project" last year.  So I started spending a lot of time trying to be more grateful for the happy things in life, and I started trying to take lifes' "punches in the face" {both big and small} in stride.  It worked "ok" depending on the day, but I think it could work better if I put a little more thought behind it this year.  So with these happy thoughts in mind, I made a little list of things that both annoyed me about last year and things that made me happy about last year.  This helped me think about how I want to approach this year.  I am looking at them not really as resolutions, but as an outline for my 2013 happy life.  The list went something like this...

1.  I love the blog, but it stresses me out sometimes.  I think I put a lot of pressure on my blog to be pretty, eye catching, put together, and inspiring.  I have thought a lot about this pressure and stress, and why it is there.  I think that if my life was pretty, eye catching, put together, and inspiring all the time, it would be easy for my blog to be the same.  But sometimes my life is akward, a mess, tough, and not put together.  I will say I completely respect that many sites' goals are to put their best foot forward, but the more and more I think about the direction I want my blog to take, I keep leaning towards all of the aspects of my life, both the pretty and not so pretty.  I share the not so pulled together side with friends and family all the time, so why should I not share that here as well.  You might have noticed that I have been trying to share more lately, and I want to keep it up.   
2.  I cry over spilt milk, somtimes.  It used to be all the time, but my husband has helped me start to get past stressing the small stuff, but I am not perfect yet.  Though I will say, a waiter dumped water all over my lap, appetizer, jacket, and purse over Christmas, and I hardly batted an eye.  Probably only because I was feeling victorious that I saved both my martini and wine from his clumsy-drink-knocking-over ways.  So I want to spend more time this year working on having less adult tantrums when things don't go my way.  P.S. Working on a new series this year about just this topic with an amazing contributer that I know you will love.
3.  I am not consistently very healthy.  I am the person who gets on the occasional kick to stay healthy in certain parts of my life.  I might be eating healthy, but not excercising.  Excercising but eating queso 5 times a week.  Taking time for myself, but then cramming it full of to do's.  I can also become a champion of a certain healthy way of life for 2 weeks then drop it.  One week I want to become a jazzercize instructor and the next I think yoga is God's gift to humanity.  One month I have decided cheese is the devil, the next I have banned eating anything that was once breathing.  Can you see how my approach to health is just insanity?  The problem is that I crave routine AND variety.  So this year I am working on getting in to a routine of variety. 
4.  Though I am a woman of strong faith, I don't talk about religion much, and we have not been going to Church for a long time.  This is something that I want to change.  The challenge at first was finding a Church that feels right for us as a couple.  But not having found the right fit is not an excuse for us not to go.  So we are changing that. 
5.  I have lotsa love in my life, and I want to keep giving more.  This summer Stuart and I will have been married 4 years.  I love him more and more each day, and it has been so much fun to see our relationship grow and change with life's ups and downs.  Our relationship has also strengthened other relationships in my life as I learn how to love more and how to love better.  Don't know if he knows this {he will now, since he is my most loyal DahliaLynn reader}, but he teaches me more and more each day about how importatnt it is to love others.  So I want to keep being grateful and thankful for his love, and keep dishing out the love to everyone in my life.
  You might be asking yourself, "Why is she even sharing this stuff?"  Well I have been asking myself the same question.  This blog started out as a place to share my style and handmade jewelry.  And though I will still share those two things, the blog has grown in to something more for me.  As I am growing up, I have more that I want to share with you all, so in turn the blog is growing up.  It is not just a place to find what I call outer happy with the pretty styles, pretty jewels, pretty pictures, and pretty homes, but I hope it will continue to grow also as a place to find that inner happy with series such as the "Love You" series and more to come.  Don't yet know exactly where these hopes will lead me with the blog, but I can only hope it will be towards a happier 2013.
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7 comments:

  1. I love your outlook on your resolutions! I kinda felt the same way...instead of giving stuff up or trying to add 10 things into my life (um, where?), I just want to focus on being happy and bettering myself as a whole. Taking a kickback approach to resolutions this year might actually be what works! haha

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    1. I love the "um, where?" comment. It made me giggle. Agreed, a kickback approach sounds good with some loose guidelines:)

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  2. That's so sweet what you said about your husband! I'm also the same way about my health.. one day I say this, the next week I'm bored and onto something different. I agree that you should share more on your blog-- it's your space, and you should write whatever it is that you want to write! I follow a few blogs that are ALWAYS cheerful.. and sometimes I wonder what they're hiding. I connect more with blogs that show their lives are just as normal as mine in that they include both positive and negative things.

    Happy new year!

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  3. I'm so glad you shared all of this, no questions about why is she sharing this from me! I wish I could be more open with these stresses and worries. I found myself nodding many times while reading through your post, especially the parts about stress, eating queso 5 times a week but exercising and finding the right church to continuing on the faith path.

    So glad I stumbled across your blog last year because it always gives me a good smile!

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  4. Happy New Year pretty lady! I loved reading your goals and thoughts on the new year. I am definitely excited to see what you roll out in 2013! My only resolution for this year is to "live simply"!
    xx
    Here&Now

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  5. I love this post! I've felt a lot of the same things in growing up so it's nice to hear I'm not alone. xoxo!

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  6. I found this so moving and so in step with my own goals. I want to let go of those littler things. I would love more routine for being healthy and also other aspects of my life. Happy New Year. xoxo

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