A while is OK

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Last week, my husband came home! He was visiting his family in South Africa and Namibia for the holidays. Although Christmas and New Years were still lovely, they just weren’t quite the same. Now that he is back, I feel truly ready to start the New Year. I am one happy girl.

I have found myself, for the past few days (because I had a late start), continuing to try and formulate goals and intentions for 2015 – both for Gumption and for my personal life. I’m working on clearly identifying what the most important things to me in my life are and using those values to dictate my goals and intentions.

That all sounds really focused and ambitious. I read that and even almost convince myself that I’ve really got my act together. I would love to say that I have figured out the way forward for both this blog and my own life and can now outline the next 11 months of 2015 and a five-year plan for my life. But the reality is: it takes a while – albeit, a long time – to figure things out; whether it’s just figuring out what you’re feeling at a given moment, what you want to do today, or what you want your life’s work to be. And that’s ok.  It’s ok to take a while to figure things out. (Small case in point: Writing is often one of the most therapeutic things for me and in the past, most stressful, six months of my life, I have written the least. Cleary, I still have a few circuits not connecting.)

But I have been making some really good realizations about myself and about my life and marriage that are helping me make decisions about what actions to take. And I’m excited about that. I’m still in my 20s; and if 30 is the new 20 (stay tuned for the post about why I believe that’s true), I am in the teens of my adulthood. I can afford to put in some more time to figuring out my life. Won’t you join me?

Did you make goals or intentions for this year? How are they going? Will you still make some?

For the new year ahead

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2015 has started off as a beautiful and brilliantly sunny day here in Miami. A day like this reminds me - almost forces me - to see the good around me and in my life.

The past six months (which is how long we've been living in the US now) have felt like an entire year to us. There have been many moments to cherish, moments filled with happiness, fun, love, and hope.  There have also been a lot of really challenging and difficult moments. Moving continents is no joke and is filled with a unique set of trials.
As this opportunity for a new beginning is upon us, I find myself filled with a strange mix of hope and eagerness, yet an awareness that not everyone is entering the new year filled with joy and zeal for a new start. Even I can, at times, be faced more with intimidation and fear for what another year may hold; rather than overwhelmed with the tremendous possibilities of excitement, adventure, and growth.
I know our (mine and yours) moments of difficulty aren't over...I am gradually learning and accepting that pain is a necessary reality of life that will never ceae. But I also am growing in my ability to emotionally rise above that - to gather information from hard times (and gumption!) and use it to become a better disciple, wife, daughter, sister, and friend. There is always hope because the Lord's compassions are new every morning (Lamentations 3:21-22).

I hope that wherever this post finds you this first day of January 2015, that it brings you some hope and encouragement for the year ahead; for the good that can and will be found.

Happy New Year!