"The Year of Broken Things." That is the way 2012 will forever be remembered in my mind. It was full of heartbreak and disappointment, and while I try not to wish time away, I am glad to say "good riddance" to it. I know it held some great and wonderful things, but I don't have the time to think long enough to remember them. When I woke up on the morning of December 31st, I felt a lightness of heart that I couldn't remember. I felt good--physically and emotionally--and suddenly, having felt that way once again, the absence of it in the past year and a half was felt all the more.
A couple of days before the end of the year I came across this quote from Theodore Roosevelt, "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." It reached out to me, as things sometimes will, and struck me as a good thought to tuck back for the coming year. Specifically, "DARE MIGHTY THINGS" jumped out.
One of Marc's friends asked him a few months ago if I had made it through my mid-life crisis yet. After I got over being pissed off that he accused me of being middle aged, I realized he was right. I've spent the last two years or so trying to figure out my place in the world, trying to decide if my career path was completely off track or if it was just at a less scenic point in the journey. That self-reflection along with some ideas that we've been tossing back and forth for years has led to some major changes for us. I've quit my current job, and Marc and I have decided to focus a little differently on life for the foreseeable future. The rough draft has been put in place, but we're still working on the details. This quote reminded me that as we grow up and age, we lose our imagination in a lot of ways and sometimes lose faith in our ability to accomplish great things. Without imagination or faith, we stumble along in the same safe rut, never seeing the other beautiful things we can do.
So while 2012 was the Year of Broken Things, 2013 shall be the Year of Daring Mighty Things.
I just read somewhere how turning things upside down helps the blood flow and "resets" things. Quite possibly leaving your job and heading out onto a new path will be your reset! Definitely leaving a job is turning things upside down!
ReplyDeleteMy 2012 sucked as well.....I'm keeping the faith and believing in God that he will guide me to the right path and come out victorious!
Happy New Year Jennifer! Best of luck on all your new endeavors!