This year...

Every new year I have the same resolutions.

Eat less.  Exercise more.

Less caffeine.  More sleep.  

Spend less.  Save more.

Etc., etc., etc...

These are my daily challenges year after year.  And they haven't changed.  They probably never will.  They're good challenges to have and good challenges to keep.

After all, who doesn't want to be rich and thin?

This year feels different, though.  I want more.

Perhaps I've grown, I did just turn 26.  (**per several of your questions, no, the name of my blog will not change to My Next 24 Years...I am still living my next 25 years, not counting down to 50...yikes.**)

Maybe it's because I've had a lot of time recently to think about what I really want to do and to be.

My camera and my laptop were stolen last month.  As a blogging photographer, this created somewhat of a problem for me.  It also brought up a lot of questions about whether or not I should spend so much money (that I really don't have,) on a new camera and computer.

Or maybe it's because I found love this year and I want something different for my life now than I did when I was on my own.  Not mine, but ours. 

Whatever the reason may be, what I want out of this new year feels different.  Or new.

I want to spend more time outside.  I want to take Atticus on more walks.  I want to cook more dinners for Brian.  I want to write more.  Keep up with my blog.  Find a yoga studio that I love and attend it regularly. 

I want to waste less energy on worrying about things that I can't change, practice serenity.  I want to spend more time with the people I love and who love me and less time on Facebook and Twitter. 

I want to learn.  I want to grow.  I want to be happy.

Be kinder.  Be stronger.  Be better.



...


I also want to eat less and exercise more.

I hope that this New Year brings you all of the peace and happiness that you deserve, that you never lose sight of the resolutions that you make, and that you never stop trying to keep them. 

Until then.  Happy New Year.