Lessons Learned in 2011

Midnight tonight will close the 2011 year for us. Many welcome the New Year in hopes of finding better times than the last while others hold on until the last minute dreading to see the close of 2011. I have had a much better 2011 than 2010 but welcome the coming year. You can not hold back time so you might as well accept it with open arms and hope for the best. 2011 taught me some valuable lessons.

First, you cannot deny true love. It took me almost a complete year to learn this but thank goodness I finally did. You can talk your head into believing it is over but your heart just will not let go. I must say I am glad I listened to my heart and sent the weight lifting text I did. I am now back home happy with my family. Family brings me to my next lesson learned.

Family is the most important element in our lives that is living on this earth with us. When all else fails you should be able to turn to your family for the help you need. I have a small close-knit family that I am very proud to say I love. I enjoy my computer time but when my husband is home in the evenings I can be found sitting around our eating table playing board games or cards and there is no place I had rather be.

There really is no place like home. The house alone does not make the home. In order to be called home the house must have love. I was raised in the middle of town but I am a country girl at heart. I love looking out my door and seeing a barn or my window to see a turkey or deer. I love having my pets running wild in the yard and ragged through my house.

Health is a gift. Every day you have not any pain or sickness you should thank the good Lord above. I have had less allergy and sinus trouble this year but my feet have gave me fits. I am happy this is the biggest concern I have had this year. I always try to remember that it could be worse. I am able to do things at home to control my pain while many others are sitting in waiting rooms to help control theirs.

Time takes a toll on not only our bodies but also our minds. I began school at the University of Phoenix this past May. I am making great grades but find the material does not come as easy as it did in my youth. I still strive to be perfect but have been told by many to be happy with an A whether it is a 100 or lower. Perfection is a false perception we have of ourselves. Striving for that false perception will almost always leave us feeling less than content with ourselves no matter how well we do.

These lessons learned in 2011 prepare me to make my New Year resolutions for 2012. I know they say why waste the time to make resolutions that always fail but I intend to try to accomplish at least some of mine. This year I am not going to promise to lose weight, get a promotion, or even get a job because these things are not totally in my control. Instead this year I am going to promise to do my best to be a better person. I want to be a better friend, family member, mother, and wife. I want to learn to be happy with an A whether it is a 100 or lower. I in fact want to stop being the perfectionist that I am because I do find it is true it steals you happiness. I want to eat healthier and exercise not for weight loss but for my high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and my over all health. No resolution is a waste of time if you change one little thing to make yourself, your health, or you life better. Even if it is just in a small kind of way.
 

We all have a promise we make to ourselves at the beginning of each New Year. What are your resolutions for 2012?  Are they the common goals many set or are you like me setting your own resolutions that only you can control?