Farewell 2021

     All jokes aside, I think I can honestly say we are all more than ready for 2021 to hit the bricks. Do we have any reassurance that 2022 will be any better? Of course not, just look at how this past year bamboozled us! We all thought COVID would be behind us, life would finally get back to normal, and, well, what a horrible disappointment that turned out to be. Delta's new sibling Omicron cropped up, and around and around we go. Will we ever get off this torturous carousel ride? It's looking highly doubtful. This, friends, has become our new normal, like it or not. 

    I like it not.

    So what to do in the face of such uncertainty? Tackle that which one CAN control. The best part of a new year is setting and defining new goals. There's so much for me that has been stashed on the back burners for the past year and a half or so as the still-pending divorce continues to drag tediously on. Writing, painting, racing. Stress, depression, and anxiety stripped me of creative gusto and my artistic life took a nose dive into the darkness. I stopped running for several months, lucky to get in a twenty minute walk on the treadmill most days. Fortunately that's been changing lately and I've been trying to climb out of the dark and back into brighter, happier days. Days of art, of writing, playing piano, running and getting back to the colorful, creative person I used to be. Only this time I want to take it further, grow bigger dreams, and watch them magically come to full sparkling life. 

    These last few months of 2021, I decided to make a list of things I really love to do, what I missed, what I always wanted to try, and I started getting them on the calendar one at a time. A horseback ride along autumn colored trails, an afternoon at the Symphony, another day to see Hamilton. I've been hiking. I've been running, training to get back into racing shape and speed. I started teaching myself piano. I bought myself new paints. I finished two paintings and am most of the way through a third. I miss writing, so...a commitment to blog again, along with a few other writing projects I'd love to see through to fruition this year are also on the plate. 

    2021 was a struggle for all of us. But I do believe better days are not that far ahead. At least, I'm willing to take the reins in hand and work towards that end. Life is what you make it. And it is also short and precious. Your best life deserves a fighting chance. What goals do you have that could use dusting off? How will you make 2022 a brighter, happier year? Cheers to all that makes you smile!



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