New Year, New Me?
HAPPY 2024 EVERYONE!
Are you enjoying the new year? Have you chucked your resolutions yet? As for me, it’s mid-January and I’m just now writing new year greetings on the blog so you can guess which resolution I just threw out. But no need to dwell on failure right? It's inevitable.
Which sort of, in an unrefined way, leads me to my subject. For the first time ever I have a motto for the year. Sort of a guide for my thoughts and feelings as I navigate 2024. Want to know it?
Expect nothing
Appreciate everything
Simple but packs a punch. However, without turning this into a philosophical discussion on the deeper meaning of life and so on, let me explain. The older I get I realize what they mean when they say ‘life is short’. You spend your 20’s ready to take on the world, 30’s you begin to settle in and by mid-40’s start questioning everything you ever thought you knew about yourself and now you’re not sure if you’ll have enough time to figure it all out. Well, at least that’s my experience.
I can’t say that I’ll ever truly understand myself but I feel like life, and my approach to it, has a lot to do with expectations. Expectations for myself, others and my perceived expectations that others have for me. This applies to personal relationships, my art, my reason for creativity. I can’t tell you how many times I sit down to draw with an expectation of how it will look, only to be mortified at the end. And as I type this, I see the irony because that mentality goes against everything I love about art which is the freedom of expression. I love scribbled drawings to lopsided ceramic vases to fine-art-DaVinci-style paintings. It’s the passion behind the art, the love for the ‘creating’ part that draws me to it. So why do I have such high (and unrealistic) expectations for myself? Who knows?!
But that’s my point here isn’t it?
This is where my 2024 motto comes in. I’m ready to let go of ‘expecting’ from myself (and others). And instead, embrace an attitude of appreciation. Which, side note here, is not the same as being thankful. In fact, I love the definition of ‘appreciate’ which is 'to recognize the full worth of'. Recognizing the full worth of mistakes because they help me grow. Recognizing the full worth of taking creative risks because they help me learn. Recognizing the full worth of LIFE because it IS short so I might as well live it with as much grace and love as possible because in the end what else really matters?!
Whew. I dipped in a little deep there. Sorry, back to the basics.
Mottos like this, if implemented, have the potential to bring real change. And that’s good. Change brings growth and opportunities and I want both.
So if any of this resonates with you, join me! Spread the motto around, let it free you up. Free to make mistakes, to fail, but also to celebrate the small wins, to enjoy the simple things. Life is short, appreciate it in every way you can.
