“If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.”

Paulo Coehlo

This year, more than most, I am excited to see the year end and the new year begin. There is something both cathartic and exciting about the simple change of the calendar and the moving of the date from 12/31/2019 to 1/1/2020. This is a new year, a new decade, a new opportunity to live a life of purpose and clarity.

Of course it is just a date on the calendar, nothing more. We should live every day as though it were New Year’s Eve. With both eyes ahead and focused on what is to come. But we don’t. We get wrapped up in what is happening in the world around us and what we perceive is happening “to us.” I don’t typically make “New Years resolutions.” Instead I use the changing of the dates to reset my mind and as a starting point for new goals.

I am still refining my goals for 2020 but one of my goals is crystal clear. I want to live my life purposefully and with extreme focus on being fully present each and every day. I know that I will fail at this (likely daily) but to truly live one must be present, not simply along for the ride.

I understand that there will be laughter, and sadness. I understand that there will be joy and disappointments. I understand that there will be success and failure. And I want to be present to experience every bit of it, so that I can become a better person and continue the journey towards becoming the person that God created me to be.

Happy New Year!