Way Back In 2010

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it? It’s 2017. I’m still trying to take those numbers in because when I was younger, I just knew by 2017 we’d be flying around in spaceships and each home would have a Rosie (perhaps too much of the Jetsons, huh?) 🙂

Well, ready or not, 2017 is here! To be honest with you, I’m excited for this year, more excited than I thought I would be. 2016 was so, ya know, Twenty. Six. Teen. so I was just ready to get it over with, especially when I started thinking about all that happened during the year.

Perhaps you’re like me and you do some heavy reflecting as one year closes and another begins. And as you reflect, you may regret a little because of what you didn’t do. Whether it was the weight you were going to lose, or the trip you were going to take or the business you were going to start or the….

I do that every year. In past years, some of my answers to my reflection questions were no, but some of them were yes. Yes, I did complete or do the thing I planned. But, because of the way I’m marvelously made, I don’t know if I celebrate the yes’s enough. I don’t know about you but, sometimes the things I didn’t get done on my checklist can distract me from even recognizing the things I completed.

Transparent Coach Moment

As a recovering perfectionist (yes, it’s a thing), I focus a lot on what I didn’t do or what I could have done better. I’m an artist and I’m sensitive about a LOT of stuff so it takes me time to put myself out there. Which simply means, I will waste valuable time and energy mulling over every little thing I do, which wastes more time. Jeez!

But, this New Year’s Eve, I did something different. Instead of regretting, I spent the day reflecting on what made me smile throughout the year. Instead of bemoaning all that 2016 was, I spent the day thinking, writing and rejoicing about what brought me joy, not only in 2016 but, in my lifetime.

Part of my reflection on New Year’s Eve led me to an old journal. I was looking for something and ended up finding this. The journal entry that would become Love Your Jiggle: The Girl’s Guide To Being Marvelous.

Every New Year’s Eve since 2010, I thought about how I hadn’t completed this resolution, this goal, of being an author. For the past six years, this has been something I had been wanting to do. And now, it is done. I got to check it off.

Now, I won’t pretend it was easy because it wasn’t. But, seeing pictures of girls holding the book in their hands with huge smiles on their faces or girls engaged in reading the book as if they’re memorizing the words, make the hard work worth it.

I share this journal entry to simply say, don’t stop! No matter how long it takes, keep chasing after your vision. Keep going after the thing that wakes you up in the middle of the night. Keep going after that dream that is gnawing at your heart. Keep going.

And if there isn’t anything that is gnawing at you or you’re still trying to figure out your thing, may I offer a suggestion? Say out loud (as in a prayer), “What is my thing? What am I supposed to be doing? I’m ready to do it, but a little help please.”

And then get ready because it may wake you up at 2:13 AM. Because as long as you’re still breathing, dreams are still stirring.

I wish you a marvelous year of seeing your dreams come true,

Shanterra

PS: Feel free to comment below. I love hearing from you and yes, I reply to every single comment.

1. Do you know your ‘thing’? Your vision, purpose or calling.
2. How are you working on it?
3. Do you have someone who helps to remind you of your thing? Some call it an accountability partner. I call mine my purpose partners. Who are your partners?
4. If you need a partner or a coach, let’s chat.