A Year Full of New Experiences

I don’t normally set New Years Resolutions, I don’t really believe in them. This year was no different… I didn’t spend New Years setting intentions for this year or reflecting on whether or not I had met my resolutions for last year. I celebrated the birth of a new year with loved ones instead.

But, I did set a resolution the first week of March this year because my life drastically changed and I came to the realization that I needed to start living my life more instead of having life lead me along on a tether.

Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

That Defining Moment

On March 4, my boyfriend committed suicide at 31 years old after about 25 years of struggling with mental health challenges. When you lose someone close, it can change your perspective on life quite a bit.

After his funeral, I took a month off to regroup and get my head back on straight. I closed up my house, packed up my dogs, and went to stay with my sister in the mountains of West Virginia.

My sister is an incredible person with an amazing heart. I always tell her that she is a much better person than I am and that she inspires me daily because she does. Her love and support helped me to get my life back on track after everything that happened.

Something that she said while I was out there has stayed with me the past couple of months. She told me that we all have a limited time on this Earth and its what we choose to do with that time that determines whether or not our life was truly worthwhile.

Only we can determine if the life that we have led is truly worthwhile, but looking back on my life the past few years, I have realized that I have lost some of the sparkle that I used to have when looking at the world. Things have seemed duller lately.

Setting My Resolution

I made a promise to myself while I was in West Virginia that I would take advantage of new opportunities this year as a way to live life for my boyfriend, maybe as a way to finish his Bucket List and start one of my own.

Tonight, I actually joined a group playing Dungeons and Dragons in a small comic book store about 45 minute drive from my house. It was definitely a new experience that I will write more on tomorrow. I am working on pushing myself outside of my comfort zone for the first time in a long time.

Photo retrieved from Wikipedia

What I have noticed during the course of this year long experiment (so far) is how my confidence in myself has shifted. I have been fairly quiet and reserved the past few years since leaving military service because my confidence in myself was shaken. I don’t think I was willing to admit that until recently, but it is true, as sad as that is.

This experiment has pushed me outside of whatever imaginary boundaries I had set for myself in my own head and I have had a lot of fun!

I have taken painting classes, traveled to new states that I had never been to before, joined a D&D group, learned how to draw facial features better (I have never been that good at it), was featured on an international podcast for my business, and I have made some wonderful new friends along the way!

And another bonus is that I made the conscious decision to take Steemit seriously and build out my account by sharing my life experiences with others. I promised myself that I will be vulnerable in my posts while sharing my actual thoughts and fears with others because maybe it will help someone else.

These past few months have been a wild ride for sure and I am actually looking forward to the next few months to see what new experiences are to be had! Life becomes so much richer when filled with memories.

I would love to hear your thoughts on my adventures so far and feel free to share your own adventures! And you can always make suggestions for what you think I should attempt next. Maybe I’ll even give ya credit if I do a post on it :P

Thanks for reading!

Ivy

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