Tuesday, December 31, 2013

2013 State of My Life Address

Yes, I realize I'm not the President.  Yet.  No, I really wouldn't ever want that job!  Have you see how quickly our President's age during their terms in office?  No, thank you.

It's been a productive year, and I'm really looking forward to an even better year in 2014.

I far surpassed my Goodreads Reading Challenges and have been introduced to some new and interesting authors and series along the way.  Read a few clinkers, though, too.  I've been prepping for the new year's challenges and have come up with a list of books that will be both familiar and new and still have room for books I don't know of yet.

Library donations have gone well, and I hope to donate many more books this coming year.  I'm learning to let go of things that I don't need to hang on to, not only books but in other areas of my life, as well.

I did submit several stories to contests and publishers.  None of them were picked up, but I'm heading in the right direction, and that was more than I did the year before.  I'm hopeful that this new year will find my writing career advancing successfully.  Our little Writing Circle has been an absolute blessing.  We started as writing buddies and have become close and dear friends.  We're now coming up with writing challenges to keep each other writing, enthused and productive.  Short stories seem to be easier for me to deal with at this time, as they not only challenge me to come up with many different plots in different genres, but they'll also help me to get things out in the market faster, improve my writing skills and confidence, keep me from being burned out on writing novel-length fiction, and also help me figure out which genres I'm most attracted to writing in.  During both NaNo Camps, I'll probably continue with the shorter pieces and save November for a lengthier prose.

Moving forward toward moving onward with my life is coming along slowly, but steadily.  Just a little while ago, it was something that I envisioned doing somewhere in the great future, but now I'm aiming toward moving within the next two years (sooner, rather than later).  It's just a matter of getting the financing AND going through all my stored boxes to donate books I no longer need and lightening my load.  

I come from a family of pack rats, something we never realized while I was growing up, because we had to move every two years for the military, and we were constantly jettisoning extraneous belongings along the way.  Now, we're in a scary situation, where our belongings are taking over our living space, and the next major move is going to be an extremely stressful and lengthy process.  Hopefully, I can get my things out before then!

My dreamwork has been coming along wonderfully, and I have a few wonderful people who help me in that endeavor.  I'm finding that the older I get, the more happy I am with myself, and the less I worry about what other people think, though I am human, and some of that will probably always be with me.  Your values change, your focus changes, the more pono you become with yourself.  For all ya'll haoles out there, being pono means being right with yourself :)

My genealogy adventure continues.  I keep finding more and more cousins of varying degrees through my research and through the DNA tests that I've taken.  It's fascinating how many people you really are connected to, even in just a couple of generations.  

I've lost 40 pounds this year, which I'm very happy about.  Still have a long way to go, but it's slowly coming off in a healthy way, and all of my blood tests have shown great improvement.  That's a total of 90 pounds that I've lost over the past three years, so YAY ME!  The progress, itself, is a great motivator.

Did get out and about a bit more this year and am looking forward to doing more of that in 2014.

And I FINALLY got to meet a dear friend in person!  We had a lovely chat fueled by ice cream.  We met several years ago in an online game and have become fast friends.  I lean on her a lot, we share our lives, woes and triumphs with each other, and I am truly blessed to have her in my life.

About five more hours until the year turns.  Here's to a happy and safe New Year!

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