July 19, 2021
It’s 11:25pm. In just over half an hour, I’ll begin celebrating my birthday – always one of my favorite days of the year! I’ll be turning a NEW age tomorrow. 46. Yep. Right in my mid-forties, if you couldn’t tell. Here’s my funny story of the week… I thought I was going to be 47. In fact, for the past several weeks, maybe even months, I’ve been thinking I was already 46 and that this birthday would be 47! Even when we celebrated Brian’s birthday a couple of weeks ago(and he's a year older than I am) ... I put four candles on one side of his cake, and seven on the other side – and my brain apparently did not make the connection, and I still thought I was going to turn 47. It wasn’t until just yesterday that Brian stopped me as I was lamenting at how OLD it felt to be FORTY SEVEN YEARS OLD?!?!! He did the math for me, haha. And reminded me that this year I’m turning 46. Just 46. Just the middle of my mid-forties years. Whew!!
I felt like I had been given a new lease on life – like the
midlife moments and malaise are not quite so well underway as I was thinking!
Yahoo for FORTY SIX!!! Since I’m here, and I’m feeling a bit nostalgic along
with all this gratitude for my extra year… Let me take a leaf out of Wade’s
book and make some decisions about my new year ahead. I want to do a few things
differently. So here are some goals I’d really like to focus on during this
next year:
1.
Daily personal prayer: I want to maximize my
commitment to connect with heaven. I’ve felt myself waning this past year,
noticing many of my prayers are merely thoughts, without much form or emotion. I
want to feel closer to my Heavenly Father, and I need to pray more faithfully –
meaning that in both senses (consistently, and with a heart full of faith.)
2.
Daily vitamins: I’m better at this than I used
to be, and yet it’s still a habit that ebbs and flows in my life. I want to take
good vitamins every day, maybe invest in some new digestive enzymes and
probiotics as well as the other stuff.
3.
Focus on food for healing: I’ve been reading
lots of books lately about how the food we eat can have such an impact, for
good or not. I want to eat more whole, unprocessed food. I want to learn more
about the good foods that will help my body feel good. I want to detox from
sugar to lessen the inflammation I feel in my joints.
4.
Walk 500 exercise miles: I keep my fitbit on
most all the time. My step goal is 11,500 per day. That’s roughly five miles,
for me. To make that goal, I need to walk or exercise for at least ½ hour to
forty minutes. I’ve been thinking, if I can just reach that step goal four times
each week, I will walk 1000 miles, total. That includes exercise and just
walking around the house doing my normal stuff. It may be hard to track, but I
think walking 500 exercise miles this next year is very doable and will help my
health.
5.
Write something at least once a week. I want to
open my computer and be on here with a blank screen in front of me every week
of this next year. That sounds sooo reasonable, and yet it’s not been something
I’ve been doing very well. But it’s a part of me that I MUST return to!
6.
Print sheet music for at least three of my piano
reharminizations or compositions. I’m doing the music theory, I want to make
some progress here this year. I love my music and want to make it more
shareable.
7.
Connect with my family members, one on one.
Every day I want to make sure I’m doing something deliberate to connect with
someone in my family… that includes my kids and Brian, as well as our parents
and siblings. I want to resurrect telephone conversations, letters, emails,
etc. And I want to spend more time engaging one on one with my kids.
Ok! Seven is my favorite number. And seven is PLENTY for me
to work on this year. So… I’m stopping there. And, I’m going to sleep tonight.
When I wake up, I’ll be starting my NEW year, my 46th! Good thing I
didn’t miss it!!
