Mid-Year Resolution Chat

At the beginning of 2017, I made a commitment to myself (I guess this was a resolution, if you will) to double down on saying “yes”. To invitations to events, to almost every time Griffin asked me to go somewhere that scared me on a hike/exploration, to working more hours, to taking more trips, to following my dreams, and to my dog’s sad eyes when she wanted to play. I didn’t completely succeed, but the resolution hanging over my head prompted a lot more “yeses” than if I hadn’t set it in the first place, and I like to think it became a permanent habit, or something I’m permanently working on.

In 2018 my public resolution was to be an example for people who want to go vegan. Seeing me eating unhealthy vegan foods and staying unfit and unhealthy is not motivation for anyone to go vegan, but seeing others ignore the tragedy that is animal products saddens me more than anything in the world. I resolved to stop ignoring that we can make the world better, save lives, and be healthy. I resolved to be fit, happy, and do good so the world could follow. But my not-as-public resolution (the one that naturally came to me and didn’t leave my brain) was to inspire.

At the beginning of 2018 I saw one of those memes on Facebook where the words flash so fast and you’re supposed to screenshot the image and whatever word is frozen in your screenshot is the word that describes the year ahead of you. Mine was inspire. I was not satisfied with this, not that I truly believe in these things anyway. I just wanted to land on “prosperity” or “adventure” of course. I didn’t even know what inspire had to do with anything. Then I started seeing the word everywhere. In magazines on the stand, on Pinterest, in books I was reading, and in conversations with random people. Not only did I hear and see the word everywhere, but each time I did so, it was in a way that made sense to me and made sense of the word in relation to the new year. I saw that it even tied back to my original resolution, to generally inspire veganism.

I started to see everything I could do to inspire Griffin, my family, a better world in whole… the biggest thing was that I saw myself being inspired. Inspired to launch my blog once and for all, inspired by all the love surrounding me throughout different parts of the year so far, inspired by going home for a quick visit. I also noticed myself being inspired by huge mountain-moving things such as medicinal miracles and people achieving their ginormous goals. I saw that a little inspiration could do amazing things. It’s the spark that lights never-ending fires.

It’s silly but I guess what I’m trying to say is that I settled in with my universe-given resolution. I do believe it was meant to be mine this year, and here in the middle of 2018 I am stepping back and looking at what I can do to keep it in full swing ‘til December and for as long as I live. I hope we’ll do great things.

[Side note: this was written in the middle of the year, I swear ;)]