Words To Live By?

Hello! Welcome to 2023 with Humbly Courageous. I hope your year is starting off well. I feel like whenever we are heading into the new year I see those word search thingys where it says something like, the first 3 words you see will define your year, or whatever. I don’t really believe a word search defines my life, but I have to admit I always look through them just out of curiosity. This year was no different, and the two times I did it (on separate days) my words were gratitude, connection and breakthrough. Ok, I can work with that! Haha! That’s just it though, there is no magic potion and boom you’ve achieved all these things in your life. Those words are all great, and certainly things I’m interested in working towards in my life, but I know it takes work to achieve things like that. So, I thought, if anything it’s a good starting place. So, let’s break it down and see how I strive to incorporate these words into my life, and maybe this could help you too. 

Grateful to have successfully tackled this hill again!

Gratitude… if you’ve been around Humbly Courageous, then you are already familiar with my long road to  gratitude. How I went from a place of despising and hating my disability to actually being grateful for what it has and continues to teach me every darn day! This transition was YEARS in the making. About 44 to be exact. It’s still a struggle at times to not despise my disability that causes so many physical hardships on the daily. But, I’ve trained my mind to bounce back to the space of gratitude when I find it drifting. That took (takes) a lot of work, a lot of redirecting, but it’s possible. And what I’ve found is that it has seeped into other areas of my life too. I find myself just being thankful for the smallest, most simple things. One thing that really turned this around was a simple practice of being thankful before my feet even touch the floor, and then again at the end of the evening. Another practice I’ve put into action that has been very eye opening to me, is listing daily accomplishments. In the past, I would often go to bed beating myself up that I hadn’t accomplished enough during my day. When I started listing all that I had done throughout my day, I was astonished by all I do during the course of a day, and I bet you would be too if you did the same. Now, I make the list to look at as a tool to magnify my gratitude. I can clearly see all that I am still capable of. Obviously, there are still bad days, but it’s so much better to live in this mindset. It doesn’t mean bad things aren’t happening, it just means you’re grateful for what you can be grateful for. So, sure that word can still be one of “my words” for 2023!

At the top! So hard, so worth it.

Connection…this is very in line with what I hope for 2023 as well. 2022 was an awesome year of making connections with new people. I was able to connect with several people who share my same diagnosis of Bethlem Myopathy, a type of Muscular Dystrophy, as well as many others with different disabilities. I’m not only open to connecting with disabled people of course, but having the opportunity to do so, now that I’m finally diagnosed and refocused, has been so empowering and motivating to me. It’s closed an open wound that was there for so long. Connections can really help you move forward in your life, especially if you are feeling stuck. Just connecting with others who understand can be extremely healing and comforting. I look forward to continuing to develop the connections I’ve made, plus make some more this year!

Breakthrough…whenever I see this word, my mind instantly goes to thoughts of a cure for my disease. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?! Definitely open to that anytime it wants to come into my life! In the meantime, I think that word can also apply to other areas in my life. As a woman of faith, I live in the mindset that God has a plan for my life, and I try my best to be open to that plan. Doing my best to not miss opportunities because I think I know what’s best for myself. I try to live expectantly and patiently for how I can best live out that plan. To me, breakthroughs can also mean that you’ve come into a new part of your plan. I will look forward to breakthroughs, always. 

Finally, as far as any New Year’s resolutions, I can link last year’s blog post to share my thoughts on that. I do have a simple list of goals that build off of the foundation I’ve been working on for the past few years. I think it’s more important to build a strong foundation, than to have a bunch of big resolutions, or feel a need for a total overhaul. Two of the goals on my list this year are to rest without guilt, and to give myself more grace. I’ve never had goals like that on my list, but now that I do, I wonder why I never did. 

https://humblycourageous.blogspot.com/2022/01/new-year-new-me.html?m=1

I’m looking forward to facing another year with humble courage. One thing I know is that it won’t always be easy, and I will stumble, and I will fail at things. But, I will also have joy, and I will succeed at things too. Life is in constant fluctuation. Trying my best to stay that sturdy piece in between is what I aiming to do. One day at a time, sometimes one minute at a time on the really tough days. I look forward to our year together! Thanks for being here in this space with me. 💚