The times they are a changin'

The last morning of the last day of the last month of the year. So many lasts in order to usher in a brand, spanking new year tomorrow. But that is how change is born. We must part with the old, to usher in the new. It is the natural order of things and something that I'm personally very grateful for.

{May it truly be for each of us! Image source.}

It is entirely normal, as one year end and another draws so close we can all but taste it, to reflect on not only the past twelve months, but on the dozen that stand to follow ahead. At the very beginning of 2014, when it was as rosy cheeked as an hour old infant, I penned a heartfelt and personal post about twelve things that I hoped to accomplish in the year ahead. At various points throughout 2014, I've talked (to some degree at least) here about how most of those were coming along.

In certain areas, I've excelled, in others (for various reasons), there is still a lot of room for growth and further improvement. I did not fail to address any of them to an extent however, and I see that as a wholly positive move forward. Most of these twelve things will continue to be ones that I purposefully work at in the coming year as well.

In the nearly mystical realm of tomorrow, where everything and anything is theoretically possible, I know that I want to continue to simplify my life, to spend less and buy more of what I truly need and want (which won't be a problem, as for the sake of our household budget, my own modest monthly personal spending allowance is being slashed in half from January 1st onward), to shake off the small things that niggle at your mind all too easily, and to continue to get better at asking for more, taking on less other other peoples' problems as though there were my own, and finding ways to continue to experience the exhilarating joys of travel (even if it's close to home).

But what else will I do? I will continue to remind myself that I own my time. I will set aside a greater number of days when I'm not online, with any luck craft more again (for all intents, I haven't done so in two years and to any real degree for well over three now, and I miss it with a fiery passion). My blog and Etsy shop will be at the forefront of my professional world, whereas spending time in the company of Mother Nature, my family, great books, hobbies, and periods of genuine relaxation will, I sincerely hope, fill my hours when I'm not working.

As 2014 began to dwindle down like the last pointy tip you've licked into existence on a candy cane, I started to feel a powerful voice deep inside my soul telling me to focus on the things I just mentioned. Each time I listened to it, my day was better, my life (if only briefly) was less stressful, my anxiety levels dropped, and often (perhaps not surprisingly) I also felt various positive effects on my health.

I'm not the same person I was when 2014 began. None of us are. We've lived and grown, laughed and cried, tried and failed, been jubilant and distraught, smiled and frowned, and through it all we've hung on and hopefully we're better off, at least on some fronts, then we were twelve months ago. I feel the winds of change a blowin'. I've always been the sort to follow my gut, but I know all the more now at the age of thirty now, to truly listen when it speaks and to follow my heart in the process.

I feel certain old skins, so to speak, falling away and the prospect of an amazing year ahead. Will it be? Only time will tell, but it certainly has the potential and that alone should be plenty to light the spark that will ignite each of our dreams, goals, and ambitions for the coming year.

{Beautiful vintage words of poetry with which to cap off this year and wave a hearty hello to 2015. Image source.}

Let us neither mourn the loss, nor blindly celebrate the end of 2014. Whether is was staggering awful or incredibly awesome, or anywhere in between for you, for none of us would be here without it.

That fact alone makes is worth raising a glass to as we watch the ball drop and indulge in an evening of daydreaming, hoping and believing in the ingrained power of a whole new set of months upon which to write the next chapter of our lives.