January 2, 2024
By Casey Hoskins
I LOVE a new beginning! Hope lives in new beginnings. The beginning of a new year, a new month, even a new week is so good! Yes, I love Mondays and I am a morning person. Want to be friends? Hehe!
For me, a new year holds a very specific kind of magic…the magic of temporary amnesia. You know what I mean! Last year is now gone and this year is going to be the greatest because all of the sudden I’ve got all my ducks in a row and no one has wandered off yet. Break out the planner, I’m getting organized! Later that day…I am super overwhelmed, I’ve only done a handful of my planner activities, my list for blog posts is all over the map, my focus is waning, and all of the sudden I can’t breathe. I need a cookie. Will I ever learn? Probably not.
I was sitting, scrolling through Pinterest boards I created years ago, when something kind of wonderful happened. I have made quite a few of those “dream pins” a reality in the 10+ years I’ve been at this whole creative life/business thing. That is no small feat. Many of those pins hold memories of a time when we had a lot less and life was no easier then it is now. We lived in a very small house, but we had fantastic neighbors. The kids’ school was a 20 minute drive one way but I got to spend all that time with my kids, having the conversations that shaped them. My business was super small but I judged myself so much less than I do now. Summers were full of bike rides and swimming holes. We had to work hard for very little but we were happy with what we did have. As I recall those memories, the edge on some of those times has softened. That is the real magic of a new beginning.
The mistakes, hurts, changes, trials, and triumphs are still there but now we get to choose how we see them. To choose how we grow from them as we move forward. My husband and I are still edging toward that empty nest, our kids are still finding lives of their own, and my business is still sitting at a pivot point. Nothing has changed save my perception of said circumstances. The dawning of a new year is like a deep breath for me, giving me the space I need to make better choices.
I still don’t know what the year will bring but I hope for the best. I am not going to sit idly by and wait for those good things to happen though, no no! I am going to do my best to trust the Lord first, pray second, and worry third. Hopefully, with much practice, I won’t get to that third step but it is all a work in progress. I love that though, a work in progress. That means there is room for improvement, or change, or growth, or…*fill in the blank*.
Here’s to a New Year, full of hope, blessings, and the ability to pivot when it’s called for. (PIVOT ~ for all my Friends fans out there!) Now it’s time to go get that nap…I really do need one.
