Out With the Old

So, how was it for you? 2009 I mean.

Many people I know seem to have had a very traumatic time of it last year.

Jobs, houses, relationships have all been lost. And dreams have dissolved into disappointment.

Personally I had the shock of my boyfriend’s cancer diagnosis plus the deaths of two family members to contend with. In 2009 my life felt like one of those snow storm toys – everything quiet and calm and just so at the very beginning and then someone or something came along and gave it all a massive shake up. I spent most of 2009 trying to find my way through the storm and wondering if things would ever return to ‘normal’ again. And every time it felt as if the storm was beginning to settle, something else would come along to shake things up again.

But the weird thing is that although 2009 was one of the hardest years of my life – it has also given me some of my most magical memories. Dealing with cancer up close and personal gives you a great perspective on things – it also makes you incredibly grateful for the things we can so often take for granted.

Back in March of last year my boyfriend was told he might only have two months to live. Fast forward to December and he was celebrating his birthday in true rock and roll style – and mirculously cancer-free – see below in the blue Everton shirt:

Okay, so he might have less hair than he used to, and his favourite tipple these days might be a carton of red grape juice rather than a bottle of merlot but he is STILL HERE. And miracles can and do happen.

One exercise I always do at the end of each year is to write down a list of all the things I’m proud of achieving in the preceding 12 months. It’s a great way to start a new year – reminding yourself of all the good stuff you’re capable of – and it really fires you up for those new year’s resolutions.

Personally I’m not a great fan of new years’ resolutions in the traditional sense – they always seem to be about deprivation – and at the grimmest time of the year weatherwise too!  I mean – is it really a good way to embark upon a new year – or in this case, a new decade – with a list of ways in which to make yourself miserable? I have it on very good authority that to give up chocolate in the winter months can lead to serious health complications and terrible mood swings!

However, I do believe that the new year is a great time to draw a line under the previous 12 months by writing down a wish list for the coming 12. What better way to see out the old (especially if the old has left you feeling  battered and bruised) than by looking forward to the new?

In my next blog I will be sharing some tips on creating a magical wish list for the coming year. In the mean time I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the messages of encouragement and support you have sent me via this website in 2009. The importance of friendship is definitely one of the most important gifts this past year has brought me.

And on that note I would like to leave you with a quote from Anais Nin which seems to sum up the gift of friendship so perfectly:

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”

Wishing you a new year filled with the love and laughter and support of friends…