It’s the Eve before Christmas, and as I look forward to celebrations to come, I can’t help but also look back over the past year at celebrations been and gone, and feel tremendous happiness. What a year I’ve had! Quite honestly, the best year of my life.
A stroke of luck? Far from it. You see, I pretty much decided on 2009 being the best year of my life at this very time last Christmas. In the words of Debbie Ford, my great source of inspiration, I dreamt it, planned it, and the only thing left was to live it.
If I scan back, a few things in particular stand out for me, in making this a year above the rest. For one, the very reality of this website wakeuptohealth. I finally got around to channelling my passion for healthy & positive living, somewhere where I can reach others. From a collection of ideas to a purposeful source, my intention precisely.
From here, I discovered my great love for writing and have seen several of my articles published in leading health magazines. On the career front, I followed my intuition in embarking on a primary teacher training course, and have embraced the friendships and rewards it has brought me so far. Most importantly, in myself I feel lighter, more balanced, free and at peace than ever before.
So, what prompted me to go out and make 2009 the best year yet? Why this time last year did I reach for Debbie Ford’s book The Best Year of Your Life?
It was the lead up to Christmas 2008 and I was staying in a London apartment. My friend was out of town and the pad was all mine, for two weeks! Fantastic, eh? Well, no, not when you’re feeling miserable. “I’ve hit rock bottom”, were the words I chose when my Mum called. Curled up on the sofa in a ball that evening, I texted my friends to cancel the dinner party I had so looked forward to hosting. “I’m really sorry, I feel rather down and I’m just not up to it.” There, I’d escaped an evening of crying on my friend’s shoulder. But, where from here?
At the real surface of it, I just wasn’t entirely satisfied with my life. Stress had accumulated over the preceding months, balance had been lost, and I didn’t know where I was headed. A great yearning for more meaning, focus and alignment was calling from within. And this was the perfect catalyst for what happened next.
Back at home and in need of something to boost me into a new direction, I picked up Debbie Ford. I’ve never read something so quickly and with such fixation. Every word seemed to jump out at me and strike a chord within. “Yes, this is what I want! I want to create great meaning to all of my days and sculpt the very life of my dreams.” Suddenly, it felt within reach, as though it were achievable. “Ahh”, the satisfaction in knowing this.
Since January, I’ve kept a Best Year of My Life diary, starting each entry with this phrase. My thoughts and words have therefore had a driver, an underlying focus, and brought me back in when I’ve drifted off. Perhaps not each day has been out of this world, but each has brought something with it; a learning, a wake up call, a new idea, a mirror, a base, an angle.
For me, this year is confirmation that we can make of each year exactly what we want to. As creators, we choose, we sculpt and we define. I plan on living each year with this in mind. I plan on living the best year of my life, every year. On defining to myself the exact kind of year I want to have, the attitudes I want to hold, the values I want to live by, the things I want to achieve, the people I want to know better and the me I want to be. And so that when I look back at the end of the year, I can feel happy with where I’ve travelled.
So, here I go into 2010 with the intention set, to make it the Best Year of My Life. Are you with me?
