The Best Year Ever - Moment by Moment.

2019 - A Brand New Year.

Fresh and full of promise.

There seems to be something magical about the first day of a brand-new year. A chance to decide to do things differently. A chance to set goals for the next year.

There are many people who think that is dumb. Why set resolutions that will be forgotten by January 15? Why bother?

I tend to use the new year as a time to look back and see where I have been and make sure I am still going where I want to go. As a matter of fact, I don’t just do this at the start of the new year, but periodically throughout the year. As an almost 50-year-old, time appears to speed up and with that acceleration, so does my frequency of review.

A few years back, Paula and I went to Mexico and took a week of mornings to work through Darrin Hardy’s Living Your Best Year Ever. If you are someone who likes checkboxes and lists, this is a wonderful way to change the course of your life. What I loved about it was the process. There was just as much reflection and review as there was goal setting and planning.

Step one was to list the greatest happenings from the prior year. I thought and thought. Let’s be honest. Remembering last week can be a challenge, much less 12 months ago. Then Darrin suggested this. Pull out your phone and look at your pictures. Most of your year’s life happenings have a photo. What was your proudest moment? What are the greatest lessons that you have learned? Who are the most important people in your life? Who do you spend the most time with? Chances are you’ll find a photo on your phone.

Funny thing is, this changed the way I took my pictures. I no longer take pictures to have awesome pictures. I take them to mark a moment. I take pictures that most people will never see – off center, messy hair, no shower, cute dog, goofy, crabby, sad, river, ocean, grass and dogs. Lots of dogs. And kids.

I don’t take tons of pictures to find the perfect one. I just snap one or two and move on to enjoy the moment. When I look back over the photos, I find that those moments become my life. They trigger the memories and remind me that no matter how challenging life can be at times, there is much goodness.

I am going to go and take a look at my photos. I am going think about what I want more of in 2019 and start to create it one moment at a time.

Wishing you and yours the best year ever!