Christmas is over now. All the hub bub and hoopla behind us.
The end is near. The end of the year that is.
Has it been a good year or a bad year?
You will need to answer that for yourself.
But the buzz is all over social media. Some saying I can’t wait for it to be over. Others planning ahead with hope or determination hearts singing we’ve only just begun.
Where do you land?
When 2016 arrived many were hopeful. People quickly attached the word sweet to it.
I know I did.
Did you?
It felt like it should be magical. Sweet 2016
January removed my thoughts of magical with three deaths. One was a suicide. It was awful. March brought another death of someone I knew. A young man who died too soon. My heart broke. My mother in law has been dying all year.
No, 2016 had no magic of its own.
But did that mean the entire year was lost?
It depends on what you decide.
How do you feel about it?
For many, it has been full of much pain and loss. Personally and also globally. Many celebrities died. There were shootings, riots, disasters, accidents and the painful strife of the United States presidential election. To name just a few.
For many others, it might have been their best year yet. Perhaps they got married, bought a house, had a baby, received a promotion, or started a new job or career path.
Our lives are full of events. Some we have control over and others we do not. We tend to be happier when we have control.
But, when things happen outside our control it tends to rock our world. Things like death, job loss, divorce, storms, and disasters. They strike at our security, there is a sense of violation.
How we process the events of the year depends on how we look at it.
How do you see it?
What is your immediate response to the question, how did 2016 treat you?
How we see what has happened effects everything.
Where is our focus? What is our attitude?
Do we see the year as our enemy, blaming it for negative events and/or decisions?
Or do we see it as it is, a sequence of events we have the power to respond to?
We can go through wonderful things with a negative attitude and it can taint the entire thing. The good thing somehow becomes not good enough.
When our experience falls short of our expectation we have a choice. We can adapt or we can sulk.
When we go through negative, or even tragic things and employ a positive attitude to process them it can turn it around. It doesn’t remove the pain, it simply makes use of it. We can learn. We can use it as fertilizer to grow.
When we make use of our failures or traumas we can make even our worst year constructive or even beneficial.
No year is perfect. There is no magical number. To think one exists sets us up for failure.
Things happen. Both good and bad, happy and sad.
It is what we do with the things that happen in our lives that determine where we go from here.
How are you going to approach 2017?
How you choose to see this current year will bleed into next year.
January 1st is just the date on the calendar following December 31st.
One day, one night and it becomes the next day.
That day alone will not make or break your year.
Your attitude and perspective will.
You have a choice.
Choose the attitude of hopeful expectation, add some plans and make it a good year. Share on XChoose the attitude of hopeful expectation, add some plans and make it a good year.
Because a good year is a year you made it through.
A year you learned.
A year you overcame some things.
A year you found things to enjoy no matter if it came easy or it came hard.
As 2016 arrived I heard a prophecy it was going to be The Great Year. At first, that sounded so vague to me. Convenient even. Then I heard the elaboration on it to include that it would be The Great Year of what we were believing for. I’m thankful I latched onto that, made a list of things I wanted to increase in my life and declared them daily.
At the close of this year, I see that my experience with 2016 was indeed great but not how I thought.
Everything was not perfect but it was a year that was busting at the seams full – which can be one definition of great – large.
I went through my calendar taking stock of my year. (You should totally do this too)
What had I done? Where had I gone? Who had I spent time with? What did I start? What did I finish?
I was amazed at how full my year has been.
I started blogging. I spent a lot of quality time with family and friends. I wrote a short story processing the pain in dealing with a loved one with Alzheimer’s (A Bird Named Payn). I have a new grandbaby! I joined many writing communities and groups. I discovered Jeff Goins and joined Tribe Writers (which has been positively life changing). I joined James Patterson’s book launch team. I launched my professional writer Facebook Page – like and follow me!
And that is just a few things.
I am adopting the attitude of we’ve only just begun and making some goals.
In the past this was hard. I did them wrong. I was vague and I was harsh on myself so I stopped.
But I have learned how to do it differently and so I am going to start again.
I’m going to be bold and share.
My incomplete list of Goals for 2017:
Submit a guest post to the website https://twodropsofink.com/ before the end of January. Success! read it here.
Write and publish my manifesto before the end of January.
Release my book Emerging With Wings on Kindle by May 7th.
Finish writing my second book by the end of the year.
I am adopting the attitude of -we’ve only just begun- and making some goals. Share on XFeel free to hold me accountable.
2017 will be what you make it. How you approach it is your choice.
What next:
Share in the comments
- Do you make goals?
- How good are you at them?
- What is a goal you have for 2017?
Click the share button and pass this on to others.
Hi, Danielle. Enjoyed this very much. You nicely hit the high and low points of 2016; not an easy thing to do as it was elections, deaths, terror, and still, moments personal and public that you remembered, too.
Your “to do” reads like mine last year in a post I wrote called, “Boy Will I Feel Good When I’m Done”. I didn’t meet all my goals, because in part, I was meeting people like yourself in writing rooms. I think in the long run, meeting other writers, creating a call to action to submit was well worth the time I spent.
Thanks for the mention and I look forward to your post.
Happy New Year.
Thank you, Marilyn. I will have to go and see that post of yours. Meeting fellow writers has been such a game changer for me. When I started blogging this year I really had no idea what I was doing. I was simply “starting”. Now I have enjoyed some victories and gained vision. I am excited to continue growing.
You are most welcome for the mention. I wanted you to know I was serious. I have a deadline now.
May your New Year exceed your goals and dreams.
Another great post! I just love your easy-to-read style! 2016 was like a whirlwind ride for me – driving 2 hours one-way to work at a in auto plant, the search for a new job (in order to stop all of the traveling), finding a seemingly perfect new job after 3 months of contracting, receiving a new grand baby, surviving the excruciating election coverage, incorporating 4 nights workouts per week at the gym, and on and on! I’m looking forward to 2017 with great hope and anticipation!
Thank you, Michael. That does sound like quite a lot.
Congratulations on your new job and grandbaby!
May your New Year exceed your hopes and expectations.
Danielle thank you for such a wonderful posting! May Christ in us propel you and your household to a new level ! I’m so excited about 2017 but after ready your posting it shifted me into a new dimension! Praise God!
You are welcome Fannye! I’m so happy it blessed you so much. Happy dancing with you! 🙂
Hi Danielle. I like the way you point out the highs and the lows. We cannot expect to only have good times and there will always be things/situations that we cannot control. But as you say, the one thing that we can control, is our attitude.
I got close, but didn’t all my goals for 2016. What is exciting though, is that this was due to a learning process and I should be able to achieve these goals with better results in 2017. One of these opportunities to learn more and gain experience is when you introduced me to Jeff Patterson’s book launch team. Thank you!
Thanks, Jaco!
Good for you on accomplishing so many goals. I didn’t have any written for this year. The year began quite emotionally and have been working on my emotional health. As I look back I am amazed at how the year has unfolded. Last January I had no idea I would be writing so much and have met so many amazing people.
For 2017 I have written down 18 goals. Some are sub-goals on the way to the bigger goal. I watched Michael Hyatt’s webinar 7 Steps For Taking Control of 2017 and it was very good. It was about goals and I found the part of “next step” very helpful.
I am looking forward to learning from the book launch as well. I have my book coming out on Kindle and hope to apply what I learn. I love all the communities I have joined. They are so helpful and encouraging.
Thank you for putting the end of the year in prospective. After reading this I made a choice. I will only take the positive with me into the new year. Countless wonderful things happen in 2016! Unfortunately some not so wonderful! Why does the bad always seems to supersede the good? “IF” we let it! The tedious part is to put it behind us and choose not to revisit it’s damage again! Damage Control time! This can be any day you choose not just New Year’s Eve. I appreciate you giving me an enlightened view of 2017. I choose
” Happy New Year.”
You are welcome, Ruth. I’m so happy to be helpful.
It doesn’t seem fair that the negative stuff always tries to ruin the good parts.
It’s good for us to remind each other to take inventory.Intentionally go looking to uncover all the good and then celebrate it.
Celebrating your wonderful with you!!
Happy New Year to you my friend.