Why Hello There 2011

Happy New Year faithful readers!

Yes, a brand new year is upon us and is it just me or does 2011 sound very futuristic? At any rate, it's here and I'm pretty excited.

As I'm sure most, if not all, of you will agree, a new year means a new start. A new chance at, well, whatever you want. There's a renewed sense of hope and the promise of opportunity. Anything is possible with the start of the new year and there's a feeling that you can conquer the world.

So here's a little insight on what I hope to accomplish with the start of a new year.

2010 was... well... one hell of a rollercoaster ride. I hit some really low lows, but I also experienced some pretty high highs, and in the closing days of 2010 I realized that I didn't want to start all over, but simply wanted to continue on the path that I'm on right now. Are there some areas of improvement? Of course. But I came to the somewhat strange yet liberating conclusion that I, ladies and gentlemen, am happy.

Trust me, there are moments when I think "The other shoe is about to drop at any moment and that's going to be it" and by no means am I saying I've found all the answers or that I don't have bad days. The search for happiness, contentment, satisfaction, whatever you want to call doesn't ever really end, but I've reached a place where I wake up and say to myself "Life is good." And that's a great, great feeling.

What a difference a year makes.

Personally, resolutions stress me out. I get overly anxious over the minutia of daily life enough as it is, so I don't need the added stress that failing at a resolution would put on me. There are a few goals I have set for myself, namely fixing my damn finances (Shoutout to James for the budget help), but that's about the only thing I've set in stone as something I truly need to fix and improve on.

Instead, when it comes down to it, I just want to keep on keeping on. I don't want to dwell on the past and I don't really want to play the "What If?" game and look toward the future too much. I want to live in the now. I want to take every day as one single day in which I can keep striving towards figuring out what makes me tick. I want to own every decision I make. Maybe this is a resolution in and of itself, but I think I can handle "Do me" as my resolution a lot easier. Because I've realized when you start to concentrate on just living as yourself, there isn't any real way to fail.

For once, I'm looking at this year and I don't have one single clue as to what it's going to bring me. And I love that. It's a little scary and a lot intimidating, but it's also very exciting and refreshing that the opportunity to make the most out of every single day is right at my fingertips. And I plan to take full advantage of that.

I am ready for you 2011. I've got old and new friendships, I've got Chloe, I've got my amazing family. Let's do this thing.