I Manifest New Beginnings Not Caring What People Think

At the beginning of each year I evaluate the “theme of the year.” I do a full analysis of where things went well, where there was space for improvement, and I determine what changes need to be made for the next year.

  

Unlike previous years the 2015 theme took time to unfold.  Usually by the end of one year I know the direction in which I need to go in order to move towards the vision I have for my life.  For example the theme for 2013 was “life without fear.”  This was an easy theme to set as it came after a tumultuous 2012 that was marked by selling my home, divorcing, and finishing my dissertation.  I knew that if I could do those things with knees knocking and tears streaming I was pretty much up for anything. I marked the beginning of “life without fear” by doing something I had never done…putting on a pair of running shoes and completing a 5k.  The 5k was scary; but, what was more terrifying was putting myself in an environment to make new friends. As quiet as it’s kept I’m an introvert.  I seek deep relationships with a few people versus surface relationships with many. To put myself in a position where I was with hundreds of people without one airbag friend was one of my biggest fears realized.  However, from that race, “The Resolution Run,” I met friends from the Sacramento Sister Circle and Black Girls Run!

Life without fear

After 13 half-marathons in 2013, many of which I ran by myself, setting the theme for 2014 was easy.  2014 became the “Year of the Myth Buster.”  This was the year was about defy what other people thought I was capable of doing AND to do my part to defy stereotypes.  It was the year I ran my first marathon and chased away the myths of impossibility. It was marked by excellence and shifting definitions from what people thought I should feel and believe to the reality of who I am in this space in time.  The myth buster year was the year I challenged others to shift from looking at, and responding to, events to identifying and changing the belief systems that fuel the myths.

Myth-Buster

After a phenomenal 2013 and 2014 in came 2015. For months I struggled trying to determine what the “theme of the year” would be.  In mid-March the theme found me, it was simply, “Unleashed.”  There was dual focus for unleashed. First, it was about breaking the mental, physical, and spiritual chains that bound me. Second, unleashed was about unleashing my passion on this world to drive change for “the least of these.”  I learned that by helping others maximize their potential and assisting them in finding their voice I was able to indirectly serve humanity. This is not to say being unleashed is easy.  It’s about pressing forward, unbound.

UNLEASHED!

When I sat to write this end of year blog I had a theme, but it felt contrived, the words didn’t flow.  As I closed my computer and went to bed, I felt a little down.  The theme I wanted to have wasn’t the theme I needed to have.  As I prepared for sleep I checked to make sure my alarm was turned off.  I figured I’d sleep in and maybe inspiration would find me via a dream. As providence would have it I woke up at 6am, an hour before my usual alarm, from a deep sleep with no inspiration.  As I flossed my teeth I received a text, and a few minutes later a call, from a dear friend.  As we chatted about issues large and small, this is what I jotted down

I didn’t think anything of it at the time.  I went about morning chores of laundry and walking the dog.  As I prepared to shower the lines caught my attention.

I Manifest

New Beginnings

Not caring what people think

When I read it I felt uncomfortable. Who was I to think I could manifest something?  Who do I think I am?  This was clearly fear speaking.  As I learned from 2013, life is to be lived without fear. Of course I could manifest the vision for my life.  If not me who? 

Then I thought about New Beginnings…how trite…this is what everyone says at the beginning of each year.  Then it hit me, so what if they are.  The belief system that fuels the myth is that New Beginnings is talking about a New Year.  Yes, each year marks, as the calendar shows, a “new beginning.”  However, each new day is an opportunity to reset, as is every second in which we are blessed to take a breath.  The lesson learned from the  myth buster year of 2014 is that things are not always as they appear to be just because “Everyone” says it is so.

Lastly I read, “Not caring what people think.”  This one was hard for me.  I tried to change the words.  To say something that wasn’t as harsh.  Then the words to one of my favorite songs popped in my mind “life’s much too short to be living somebody else’s life…”  It’s not about not caring about people, it’s about not allowing the thoughts of others to dictate how you live.  This represented the final 2015 lesson of an unleashed year…unleashing the final chain …namely the opinions of others. As another dear friend says "the committee can have an opinion; but, they don't run my life."

So, it was within that moment the theme for 2016 was born.

I Manifest

New Beginnings

Not caring what people think

Do you know your theme for the year?  Are you making resolutions or establishing new goals?  If you are, are they in alignment with the vision you have for your life?  Do you know what that vision is?  If you have not replied with a resounding YES to these questions it’s time to reset. It’s time to boldly live life on purpose. 

To start 2016 off right I’m offering “Moving past New Year’s Resolutions:  How to cast a vision for your life and the steps to accomplishing it” session at a significantly reduced rate for 10 people.  I hope to see you there!