NEW YEAR NEW PERSPECTIVE

Hi everyone! I hope you all have been well, the holidays were good to you, spending time with your family was sweet, and you found some time to sit back and enjoy yourself even if only for a few minutes. I really need to get better at writing consistently on this blog, but life happens and what can we do?  Anyways, I could whine about how I want to do more of this and that, but what good does that do for me or for you. No one wants to listen to a whiner, and I sure as hell don’t want to be that whiner everyone hates. ;)

Anyways, it is New Year’s Eve! The 365th day of the usual 365-day year.  We have all seen the posts on social media and heard from people like we have for the past years and years: NEW YEAR NEW ME. Though, does this new year new me bullshit as we like to say ever exist? You may start a new diet, or want to work out more, but what usually happens?  After the first week, or maybe a month if you’re lucky, we give in and eat that brownie, or just throw in the towel overall and feel like the new year is already doomed. I can say along with everyone else, this year is going to be different, but rarely does that ever happen.

 Life is a roller coaster, the unexpected happens, and life goes on. So, after thinking this through and reading an incredible book called “The Gratitude Diaries” by Janice Kaplan, my thoughts about 2018 started to change a bit. I’m not one to push my beliefs on others such as my religion, and especially not my political views. But (yes mom, I know I can’t start a sentence with but, but shhhh…) I want to share with you all a new way to look at life and my real goal for 2018.

My main goal for 2018 is to become more positive. Whenever friends come to me with advice etc., I know I give positive advice. The thing is though, I don’t give myself or take my own positive advice. Life is only so long. So why live each day worried about the one thing you said wrong, or the meeting that didn’t go as well as you hoped, or that you didn’t get to go to the gym? Live each day looking at the good things that happened to you. What is it that you are grateful for today? It can literally be anything, from being able to have 2 legs and 2 feet to being thankful for a loved one. By looking at your day in the positive light, it will make you happier overall. :)

 So, then it came to me, instead of new year new me bullshit, this year my motto is new year new perspective. A new way that I will evaluate my life. Life is so beautiful filled with incredible places, special people, and adventures. Life isn’t about the monetary things; it is about the experiences we experience. Do you want life to pass you by? Do you want to look back in 10 years from now and see that you didn’t enjoy any of it!? Today, at this moment, this is the youngest you will ever be again! Each moment is precious. If we learn to live in the moment, take in life, and show gratitude towards the things and people around us, life will become even more beautiful. Yes, I know I know, I sound like some spiritual person talking about fairy tales (normally the people I think are filled with BS,) but just think about it for one second.

 It really isn’t that hard, doesn’t it seem doable? Now will it always be easy, hell no! It will be worth it though. When life happens, and it is just a bad day, if we focus our attention to the good in our life, we can make a change and make our life better for the next day! It is about the way we look at a situation.

 In the book, it tells this story about this mom who lost her 3 young children in a car accident, and she just wanted to die and go be with them in heaven. Her friends decided to try and help her by coming to her house every day, cooking food, inviting her on runs, shopping trips, etc. Did any of these things make the situation feel any better to her, no. Nothing can change a heartache that occurs from such a sad tragedy. However though, she started to write a gratitude journal where each day she wrote down 3 things she was grateful for (even though it was a struggle for her), but that made her life a little bit brighter and made it a little easier to get through the hard times.  We can’t change what does happen in our life, but we can change how we look at it. Now, does looking at all the good things in our life make us not want to work harder to achieve more? No, surprisingly as many doctors have ran studies, they have found gratitude makes us grateful for everyone around us, the experiences we get to endure, and surprisingly work harder to become even more content with our life!. When we are so negative about life, and constantly putting ourselves down, we are only hindering ourselves. We are our own worst enemy!! People who appreciate life regularly as Dr. Emmons says, “gain a sense of purpose and desire to achieve.” If someone said you could be happier with your life, and overall become more motivated and have a bigger purpose to achieve…. who would ever say no to that!?

 I am going to include my top eight favorite quotes from the book below along with a picture. If you want a good read and some inspiration, I promise you won’t be let down. As this new chapter opens for the new year, I hope to enjoy life more and appreciate all the opportunities that have and hopefully continue to be given to me. I hope to become a happier person that people enjoy being around, and overall do good things for the world. I wish you a Happy New Year, may, happiness, gratitude, and good things come your way. :)

XOXO

Love,

BB Jean

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QUOTES:

1. “We often look so long and regretfully upon the closed doors that we do not see the ones which open for us.”

-Alexander Graham Bell

2. “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not. Remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”

-Epicurus

3. “He who is not satisified with a little is satisified with nothing.”

-Epicurus

4. “Gratitude didn’t depend on the right events or even the right decisions, but how I processed them.”

-Janice Kaplan

5.“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”

-Marcus Aurelius

6. “A sad soul can kill you quicker, far quicker, than a germ.”

-John Steinbeck

7. “An athlete can choose to look up at what she missed and feel defeated, or look down at others that achieved less and feel victorious.”

-Janice Kaplan

8. “Bring the right mood and spirit to each day and you can create the best year of your life.”

-Janice Kaplan