I was happy to hear them both seriously review their year and also be surprised by it! Luke listed some of what 2018 had held for him and amazed himself when he considered it all!
Earlier in the evening I had read to Andy the list I had made of significant things for the year. It was a long list! He also was immediately surprised and grateful how far we have come and how many things we just have to be thankful for.
As we drove home the sun was setting right in front of us. It was the hugest and pinkest sun I think I have ever seen! It was stunning! All the grasses on the roadside were tinted pink as it cast a pink glow over everything.
As we got home the sun had set and left a beautiful glow over the property. I wish I had taken my photos sooner but I wanted to take a photo of the sun setting on 2018.
This morning we have a brand new year. It is a brand new opportunity. Imagine how many people with hours of days left to live would love to have this year ahead of them. With one more year gifted to them I wonder what they would do with it?
Imagine how many would love to have one more year with someone they love. Well, that applies to us all. But here we are with that opportunity with those we do have that are here with us.
Today I am thinking about challenges to set myself and changes to make.
Sometimes one small change can make a world of difference.
It is a year since I made one small change. I stopped eating wheat. It sounds small but it took adjustment. With that one change I no longer live with daily pain in my legs (which started when I was maybe 3?) and later became an ache all over at times. All my pain is gone. Just like that.
Another is it many months since I started drinking a couple of litres of water a day. Lana got me going on that. This has made an amazing difference to me. Now if I skip it I feel really thirsty so it is easy to continue. But at first it was quite hard!
Other changes I can think of that turned into huge things were buying up whenever I saw something half price that we use a lot. I pretty much filled a whole pantry this way.
Gardening every day even if for only five minutes. This habit is very relaxing. It took me from no garden what so ever to a full veggie garden in just a few months.
Ok, usually the five minutes turns into half an hour or more. But the power of a little each day is truly amazing. It adds up so much!
The garden is the most basic demonstration of "you reap what you sow" i.e. you plant tomatoes, surprise surprise you harvest tomatoes!
Many things that seem insignificant really surprise you when you multiply them by the fifty two weeks of a year. My $8 coffee and cake per week was turned into a full cellar of food and preparations in 2015. I stopped spending that money and used it on half price specials so it gave me $16 worth of long life food, batteries, matches, candles and so on to fill my cellar with useful goods.
What I ended up with after a year was worth so much more than a coffee with a slice of cake.
Before that I learned to make a really good pizza and we gave up ordering Friday night pizza. In one year that saved a ridiculous TWO AND A HALF THOUSAND DOLLARS. I am not so stupid now but I was then lol.
You get the idea. The daily coffee, weekly take out etc all surprise you when you calculate the weekly amount then times it by 52!
Equally powerful are changes that relate to health, diet, housekeeping etc. Small things really add up!
So today I am planning my goals and changes I want to make. We are quite well set up here now. Fully unpacked and settled in. The huge amount of work this all took is mainly done. Now I can turn my efforts to other projects. Straight away I have things come to mind.... plant more fruit trees, establish a fantastic woodpile, build up my gift cupboard, build up our emergency fund, crochet a rug to match the lounge and so on...
In the next few days I am posting my goals and challenges! I am really excited and have a gorgeous new planner. I got as far as setting it up and writing in all the birthdays and celebrations, names and addresses and so on. I will work on it more today.
What would you like to achieve this year? What small changes would really add up?
Do you have a huge project that would seem possible if you could break it down to five minutes a day?
If we start today 2019 could be the year of getting stuff done.
The year of improving our health.
The year of learning new skills.
The year of savings...
The year of home cooked meals...
The year of bed time stories.
The year of.... ???
I am off to water the garden and think it over!
xxx