New Year

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The new year is always an interesting time for me.  My brain starts to slow down a bit so I can start to reflect on the year before and consider what's ahead.  A lot of the time I think about what I'd like to do differently.  There's the hope for personal character changes.   How I'd like to be more patient with my children, more generous with my time, more thoughtful towards others.  There's the hope of lifestyle adjustments.  How can I feel less stressed, less busy?  What do I really want to do with my spare time?  How am going to balance my family, serving my community, my ambitions, my exercise, my need to get more sleep?!

It's nice to have some mental space and emotional energy to consider all of this.  But I find it hard sometimes too.  Didn't I go through all this last January?  Didn't I still end up frantically busy come December?  I guess it is all small steps.  It's learning from times of over-commitment and trying to manage life better.  It's understanding my personality better - my limitations.  And spending some time reflecting on this every January has to help in the ongoing process of understanding myself and my place in the world.

Now ... back to watching the tennis and my afternoon nap!

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