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For the past year I’ve used this blog space to share whatever it is that has made me feel inspired.  My hope, as I said in January, was that at least a sliver of what I found illuminating would also serve to illuminate you.  I continue to hold that hope with this last installment for 2019.  I kicked 2019 off with a poem by Mary Oliver called “The Journey” and I’m bookending the year with these words from Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love):  

“You don’t have to have a New Year’s resolution and this New Year doesn’t have to have even more pressure and anxiety than normal because it’s a new decade.  You don’t have to have a new decade resolution.  You are not required to justify existence on Earth through constant improvement.  You are not a Fortune 500 company - you don’t have to show increasing profits.  You don’t have to earn your right to be here by putting yourself to higher and higher standards.  You just get to be here.  You belong here.  You are loved on Earth.  And January 1st can be a day like any other where you can just sleep in and maybe do a little bit more of nothing.”

I heard this message less than 24 hours ago and couldn’t help but bring it here.  It wasn’t what I had in mind to share, but so it goes with best-laid plans.  To Ms. Gilbert’s point, standing on the precipice of a new year/decade isn’t in and of itself just cause for doing something or becoming someone different.  So, take great care in setting goals; sometimes we overestimate what we’re (currently) equipped to support into fruition.  Changing course - or not - is up to you.  Giving yourself permission to rest, repair, heal…also up to you.  However you decide to make the transition into 2020, I hope you lead with kindness towards your Self.  The rest will follow.

Cheers and Happy New Year’s to you!