A new year, a new beginning

So here we are in a new year. Do you see the new year as a new beginning? I know there’s always tons of chatter about resolutions and starting fresh, and sometimes I don’t buy into it, but usually it does feel good to see the year as a whole new beginning. Yeah, it’s pretty arbitrary, but, there’s something about seeing it as a fresh start that makes going through another year feel possible. It gives you motivation to go forward without feeling destined to repeat the year before.

So every year we do try to come up with little things to keep in mind through the year ahead, maybe goals, maybe hopes or dreams, or maybe just little mantras to keep our focus on an aspect of personal growth that has risen to the surface. This year I’m repeating these four words: It’s time for me to stop rushing around, missing all that’s happening around me. Time to drive slower, to walk slower, to see the world for what it is each day and to take it in with awe. And it’s time for me to lose control, not in the go crazy and have no inhibitions sense, but in the sense of letting go of my control over every situation, letting go of perfection, giving the reigns to others (at least sometimes) and trusting in the bigger plans out there for me, for us.

So in the spirit of losing control, one of our favorite things over the holiday was a trip we took to Sky Zone with a bunch of friends. It’s a huge gym full of trampolines. There are even trampolines angled upright, so you can literally bounce off the walls. We jumped, we played jumping dodgeball, we jumped and flipped into a giant pile of foam blocks, and we jumped some more. And we couldn’t wipe those giddy, silly, gigantic smiles off our faces all night. It was that. much. fun.Highly recommended to anyone needing to let off steam, anger, frustration. Because, despite some inevitable shmushing and rearrangement of internal organs, you are gonna be on a silly happy high for a good while after. And that’s a good thing–it helps disguise the aches and pains your aging body is gonna feel the next day. I definitely didn’t achieve the slow down part of my resolution here, though. And along similar lines, Sky Zone only highlighted one of Ta’u’s two mantras for the year.Obviously he didn’t say no to this awesome outing with friends. What he means with “say no” is that it’s important to pick his commitments with more intention and make sure they align with his values before he over extends himself. He’s such a great guy at so many things, it’s not an easy task. But this adventure did fulfill his second mantra: “take risks.” Some of you might think we do that quite a lot, but most of our travels and life changes are well thought out, planned for, and backed up, so while they might look unusual to outsiders, they aren’t really risks for us. This year, we want to charge forward with many projects and plans we have for our future careers and family and not overthink it too much, but take those leaps of faith trusting that we will land on our feet. So we rang in the new year, while silently chanting these mantras, with good friends and my favorite: good good food. (we are on a cleanse diet right now without dairy, white grains, or sugar, and boy do I miss all three of those!!!….more on that later). First, we stood in a line out the door of the only seafood market in Minneapolis in -6F degree weather to secure our special dinner ingredients, mussels and scallops – talk about commitment! Trust me, none of those people in line were Minnesotans. No Minnesotan loves seafood enough to stand in -6F degree weather for 20 minutes just to get it. Most of the people in line were talking about how they were from California, or other coastal places, and how they ended up in Minnesota for a girl. HmmmmmmSo we ate our beloved mussels and scallops and had great conversation. Then ended on a fairly quiet note. Although we did play a rousing game of Mexican train dominos while we watched the ball drop in New York.  And as we ran outside at midnight, shooting off streamers, we took in a big breath of the freeze-your-lungs off fresh air of the new year, and we felt ready to internalize these mantras and take this new year by storm.

Do you have any resolutions, goals, mantras for the new year? How about special New Year’s Eve traditions? We love being with family or friends, but we seem to do something a little different every year.