I have a really good feeling about the coming year, despite getting some rather upsetting news on New Years Eve. At first it got me worried. I thought it was a bad sign that this is how the new year was starting for us. But then I realized something. It wasn't 2014 bringing me the bad news. It was just the end of 2013 spitting out the last nasty bits that it could. It wasn't a bad year overall for us. There were some unpleasant moments of course but I feel like Yeti and I grew a lot both as individuals and as a couple. It's an important thing to be able to grow together and embrace any changes and challenges that life may through your way. I'm so lucky to have an amazing partner to go through this crazy thing called life with :).
I'm not sure if I actually have any "resolutions" for the coming year. It's more like I have some goals and a general rule of thumb in my mind, but we'll get into the goals later. For now I want to focus on my new rule, and that is simply this: to be nicer to myself.
Most people make resolutions surrounding physical health such as losing weight but I feel like emotional health is just as important. I'll still make an effort to hit the gym or do some exercising as much as I can, but I realized something over the course of 2013. I really am my own worst enemy. Is it sad that i'm 30 years old and still have self esteem issues? Especially when it comes to my cakes or any other foray into the creative world I may try. I never like anything I write and my cakes are always meh, even though I know there is evidence to the contrary. For some reason, I'm convinced that i'm not allowed to be good at anything or know more about a certain subject than someone. I wish I knew why that was. I'm constantly asking Fred to proofread the things I write and then never believe him when he says they're good. The same goes for my cakes. I think the fact that i'm very detail oriented and a perfectionist also attributes to that. It's for this very reason that i'm thankful for the people I have surrounding me now. They're so good at helping me believe that i'm good enough and I am getting there, slowly but surely.
I have two goals for this year and one is slightly harder than the other but i'm making great strides to get them both moving! One of course is to keep on working to make the Jostess Bakery a success. Thanks to everyone who has already put in cake orders and are spreading the word!! 2014 is going to be a big year I think. A few weeks ago I was off for a few days from my real grown-up job at the medical center and I spent a good chunk of time working and baking Christmas treats. Not once did I feel stressed or feel like I was doing work. I knew then that baking is where my heart truly lies. I just have to keep at it, do my best and I know I can turn the bakery into something more than just a hobby.
My second goal (and I think this has been the same for me for the past few years now) is to finish some of the long term writing projects I've been working on for god only knows how long now. I think once I actually FINISH something, that will put me on the right track to get the rest done. I've worked out that for at least 2 or 3 hours each day, I will sit down and write. Even if I only get one page done, or a paragraph or a sentence, I need to make a little bit of progress each day. I will be okay with that. I'm excited about the direction the stories are going to take. I think I came up with a really neat way to link them all up so they are occurring around the same time in the same universe. I can't wait to put everything together and see how it turns out! :)
About two weeks or so ago, Facebook put together a little "Year In Review" thing that supposedly pulls together all your "biggest moments" from the year, which I thought was cool, but I feel like they left out some key moments. Moments that for me were personally satisfying not just because of how many "likes" or comments they got. So I decided to make up my own little photo collage to commemorate 2013 of some of my absolute favorite moments. What a year it was! All these people, all these places and all these things have meant so much to me this year .Although I wish I had a group shot of my fellow Arkham Horror Book Clubbers to include in here.
I mean, really, how many people can put meeting George R.R. Martin on their list of awesome moments from 2013??
Since this post is already as long-winded as it is I will close it out by simply wishing you and yours nothing but love and happiness for the New Year! And, well, i'll leave the rest up this guy:
