Happy New Year 2015!

Time sure does seem to fly by lately.  It seems more so now that the kids are getting older and we are busier than ever.  I thought as the kids got older life would slow down, but that is most definitely not the case.  This time of year, the past few years, I find myself wondering where the year has gone.  And since I am a thinker, I will often reflect on the year, did we achieve our goals, did we accomplish anything, and was it a good year?  I used to sum our year up in a Christmas letter, then I realized between settling into pretty much the same routine and with Social media, it seemed like we didn’t have much new to announce.  Overall, if I really reflect on the year, I can say that it was most challenging.  We have had lots of broken bones/injuries, problems with the kid’s sports, problems with schools, Jason lost his best friend from high school, and at the end of the year we had some pretty challenging illnesses running around our house. But we have accomplished a lot too, and had some pretty amazing moments with both kids getting awards, having great sports seasons (despite the challenges), taking our first trip out of the country as a family, getting the privilege of watching my  littlest sister get married in the Caribbean, lots of camping trips, visiting with my sister in New Mexico and meeting her husband for the first time, showing the kids where my side of the family is from, new family members joining us both by marriage and birth, it was truly an amazing year, and when I think of it the negative things are far from what pops into my head.

I read both an article in a blog and a book this year (the only book I read) that really stood out to me.  Sometimes when life gets busy, a person can really forget what life is really about. There was a blog I read that helped me remember what I am REALLY grateful for and the book, The Four Agreements, helped me remember how to find my inner happy again. It was a good reminder what matters most.  It’s been interesting to see how we have changed and adapted through the years. We have made good decisions and bad decisions, we have had good times and tough times. But I am firm believer that everything happens for a reason.   It is human nature to adapt and evolve through the years, and the things that happen help us grow, teach us lessons and help us become wiser.  

Bottom line, sometimes we all spend more time on all the negatives instead of thinking about the positives.  Sometimes we spend more time worrying about what others think than what makes us happy.  Being a people pleaser by nature, I can tend to get wrapped up in doing things to make everyone else happy, but it wasn’t necessarily making me happy. I would hear criticism and judgment (Let me add in, that I am also my own worst critic.), and at times this would eat away at me.  But it turns out, I was asking myself the wrong questions; “I have a great life, and a great husband and great kids, why can’t people just be happy that I am happy. Or better yet, I have a great life why do I not think I am happy?”

Anyway…..I put back on my perspectacles, and realized it’s all about priorities. Our priorities are different, than say the next door neighbor.  They are adjusted to fit our family.  It doesn’t make us right, wrong or indifferent, it makes it right for us. Everyone has their own set of priorities and what makes them happy. When I look through my perspectables, I have everything that I need to make me happy, and then some.  The people in my life make me the happiest.  There is not an object that can ever replace any of them.  I often find myself cherishing moments and memories over anything else.

We spent much time this year having lots of conversations on where we have been, where we are and where we want to go with our future. Thus our 5 year plan came to fruition. We have dreams of where we would like to be next year, in 5 years, 10 years, whatever. And the only way we will accomplish the dreams is to work towards them. One of the mistakes that we made along the way is debt.  While we can account for all of our debt and know it was for good reason, we still are tired of being in debt.  About 4 years ago we buckled down and paid off some of our debt, but then I got laid off.  We had to put it on hold and get caught back up again.  At the beginning of this year we were ready to tackle our debt again and came up with a pretty intense budget.   In the budget we accounted for every single thing we spend our money on.  We locked our credit cards away, and started living with the philosophy of “if we don’t have the cash for it we don’t need it”.  So essentially if we don’t have the cash for it or it’s not worked into the budget, it doesn’t happen.  Literally, every single extra penny we have is going towards paying off debt.  At first it was a process that took some time getting used to, and we really struggled the first couple of months. But over time, we realized that we can absolutely do without and that things were just things.  We learned to appreciate more of the things that we do have and that we enjoy doing, and realized many of them do not cost money.  We started looking around and realized we have too many “things” that we don’t even use.  So we spent our vacation over Thanksgiving, cleaning the house, organizing and getting rid of “things”.  While we are not necessarily trying to become “minimalists”, we just have grown to realize that we don’t need lots of things and definitely not the best of everything. 

 In November, when our son quit breathing, it was our validation that our focus was exactly where it needed to be.    Even though all turned out ok and it lasted all of 5 minutes it is extremely eerie listening to his story of what was going through his head when it all happened.  It will send chills down your spine.   Between both kids being sick most of the fall, suddenly, entering into the Christmas season, nothing materialist could touch the things we were grateful for this holiday season.  All the people in our lives is really all we need, it seems nothing much else matters. 

In 2015 we will keep the momentum going on working towards our big goals. Most of the year is already planned and booked, and like with most things we will take what the year brings us in stride! We have a BIG dream and lots of things that we have to look forward to in the next 5 years, and with hard work and dedication, anything is possible. I am totally excited for what is to come.  

From our home to yours-Happy 2015!