Happy New Year to all.  I am officially declaring 2018 the year of me.  Why?  Because it will serve me better than any resolutions I might make.  For years and years, I made resolutions to lose weight, eat healthier, exercise more, save money, declutter, etc., etc.  The list was long and covered everything from soup to nuts.  Then, along with 80% of the rest of the world, by February I had failed to make any changes in my behavior.

What was missing to make things happen?  I certainly had good intentions of making myself into a better person.  Oh wait, perhaps that’s exactly where I went wrong.  I wanted to be someone other than ME and had no plan as to how I was going to become that new and different being.  I thought that by simply writing down what I wanted to be somehow a miraculous transformation would occur beginning New Year’s Day.  Guess what, this was mere dreaming, it never happened.

Things do not improve when I sit on my duff and just expect them to.  I need to put some action into the process.  I needed to turn those wishes and hopes into SMART goals.  THAT is when things started cooking for me.  And the beat goes on today.  I have set NO New Year’s resolutions for 2018 and I feel great about it.  I do have some plans for ME for the year.

My word for the year is THRIVE.  I spent many years surviving, and since having my Lap Band Surgery in 2004, I have learned what it means to thrive rather than just survive.  Here are some definitions of thrive along with synonyms - prosper; flourish

I believe that as I found my way after weight loss surgery and started to realize that the only limitations I had were those I put on myself I began to thrive - to flourish, to try and succeed at things that I never in my wildest dreams, would have thought of in my previous life.  (BWLS - before weight loss surgery).  This year, 2018 brings some interesting numbers with it for me.  I will be married for 50 years on April 4^th, 2018.  I will turn 70 years old on September 15, 2018.  These are two milestones for sure. 

I have a couple of bucket list items that I intend to cross off by completing them this year.  The first is to go to The South Pacific and swim and dive in the waters around Tahiti, Bora Bora, Moorea and the like.  This trip is planned, and I get more excited each day I think about it.  The next is to finally get in my hot air balloon ride.  This has not been planned, because my hot air balloon ride has been canceled 3 times in California and twice in New Mexico, so I am allowing the universe to provide the right winds somewhere in my travels for this to happen.  And happen it will, because I am giving positive energy to the thought. 

I have been thriving these past years.  I spent 2017 hiking many of the local waterfalls, hiking in beautiful areas in Oregon and in Hawaii.  I swam my “laps” in the Pacific Ocean off Kauai for my daily fitness, and bicycled the beach as well.  I experienced sunrises and sunsets in some of the most beautiful places in the world.  This is how the gift of my second chance at life has unfolded for me since 2004.  I am grateful for all of the opportunities that have been presented as well as for the ones that I created as I let go of an “I probably couldn’t do that” attitude and changed it into a “let’s try this and see what happens”, with the final outcome being - I can!  I did it!  Let’s do it again!

This year of ME will be filled with choices - choices to work my fitness every day and get stronger and increase my endurance.  Age is not a barrier, it is an incentive for me.  I can align myself with people who help serve my goals and fuel my soul and let go of those who don’t.  I can choose to let go of what I cannot control instead of letting it weigh me down (I mean that in every way including feeding my emotions) and work hard on what I can control including my food, my fitness, my hydration and my positive mental attitude.  I plan to live each, and every, day to the fullest, being the best ME I can be.

This year of ME, this year of thriving these 365 days called 2018 are a gift for me to unwrap and cherish, one day at a time.

That is exactly what I plan to do.

What is your word for 2018?  And, how does it impact your life?