I've seen several 2017 wrap-ups, so I decided to do my own top ten based on the posts I wrote this year that got the most hits. Surprisingly, these posts do a pretty good job of summarizing my year:
Yoga Revolution (Yoga with Adriene) Review
Nope! Not Married!
This Isn't the Life I Planned, But It's the Life I've Been Given
Reflections on 30 Days of Yoga
"This is All Good News"
Pride
Pat's Run Weekend
Suicide
Growing
13 Reasons Why
If you follow me on Instagram, here's my Best Nine:
1. Nighttime snack-April 12, 2017
2. Afghan 50-May 26, 2017
3. Afghan 52-July 13, 2017
4. Janis Best 5K-October 28, 2017
5. Patriot Run medal-October 18, 2017
6. All dressed up for my cousin's wedding in Wichita, Kansas-June 17, 2017
7. Supporting adoption shirt-November 5, 2017
8. Chocolate tumeric oats and peanut butter-July 14, 2017
9. One year Arizona anniversary celebrated-July 4, 2017
Which post did you enjoy most? Please share in the comments section so I know more of what you'd like to see in 2018.
To God be the glory!
I read a lot: blogs, books, signs, cereal boxes, you name it. It's a hobby, I guess? Lately, the topic of intuitive living has crossed my path more times than once. (See "How Eating Intuitively Helped Me Live More Intuitively" by Alexis Joseph, "How Intuitive Eating Changed My Life" by Kara Lydon, and "Movement vs. Exercise" by Robyn Nohling.) Then I read this in Present Over Perfect:
The fact that numbing becomes a lifestyle hit me. I realized that numbing is the way I've been living my life, not intentionally, maybe not even purposefully. Numbing is a coping tool, a way of surviving, a way of getting through. But it's not a way of thriving.
Some of you might remember my birthday goals post from May and how I wanted to improve my life by eating satisfying foods, sleeping better, and moving in ways that feel good. The purpose of those goals was to learn to love myself and my life better. I'm realizing now that those goals were signs of me wanting to know myself, to really live out and engage in life. Somehow, I've just been going through the motions.
I've had moments of joy and excitement and fun this past year, but it's also been a hard year, one of not knowing myself or where I fit, one of struggle, one of new (and to be honest, scary) opportunities. I've spent a lot of time trying to live up to the expectations of others and of myself.
I've been living completely by myself these past two weeks, staying in a hotel for work training. The first few days of that experience were rough, but then I started asking myself, "What do I need to get through this day?" and I tried to give that thing to myself without judgment. Doing so often meant sacrificing money, or time, or my own ideals about life. But you know what? I did better. I was more present. I felt more like myself. I felt a lot, to be honest: emotions, pain, bodily sensations, etc. But I realized that I wanted to live more of life this way, to embrace the joys and the struggles of life, to be me, and not the ideal self that others or my own self wants me to be.
Have I got this authentic living thing figured out? By all means, no! I'm just on the cusp of the journey. But I want to work this thing out. I want to be myself and let opinions and judgments and obsessions and compulsions go. And I want that for other people, too, to get rid of labels, to live truly and with integrity, to relate to others in real ways. Living authentically is going to be painful, but I'm choosing to embrace that in hopes of more fully embracing the joys in life that are to come.
