An Ode to 2015 & Why I’m Letting Go of New Year’s Resolutions

I meant this post to be a letter to 2015. I was going to write about all that I accomplished and became in the last year.But as I began to write, I realized most of my 2015 resolutions are still left unchecked. I didn’t lose weight. I didn’t become financially free. I didn’t move somewhere tropical, and I sure is hell didn’t buy a home in Hawaii. Yet this trip around the sun has been life changing (as they always are).And I now realize that those resolutions don’t matter or at least not the way I thought they did a year ago. They no longer define my happiness or my quality of life.  Don’t get me wrong, goals are good and keep us moving forward, but there’s a fine line between doing (chasing our goals) and being (living in the moment).

When we chase our goals too fiercely we're not open to seeing the lesson we need to learn and those lessons are far more life transforming than accomplishing any resolution.

The Universe is always there to teach us, to show us the way, but we have to be open to receiving her messages. If we’re tied too closely to a goal and the end result the messages will go unheard. Once we learn to listen, we realize…  It’s not about losing weight, but loving our bodies and the skin we’re in. It’s not about being financially free, but being mentally free. It’s not about living somewhere tropical, but embracing where we are. It’s not about finding love, but loving ourselves and being the love we crave.

This year I listened.

By listening I learned to embrace where I am.

In the space of embracing where I am, I found freedom.

Freedom exactly where I am without needing to be or do anything other than accept my reality.As a freedom seeker, this lesson has been life changing. Not only has a world of possibility opened up,

but I've learned that new year's resolutions can't give me anything that I can't give myself, from within.

Everything we desire lies within us.

Once we know this, we can trust that we’re exactly where we need to be. Trusting ourselves. Trusting the Universe. Trusting that we’re are enough, just the way we are.  So go forth. Create resolutions. Create goals. Chase them. BUT be open to listening to the deeper lesson the Universe is trying to teach you, that’s where the magic is. That’s where true transformation happens.

Cheers to another magical year. 

XO, Emily