It’s hard to believe that 2014 is coming to an end. I’ve been reflecting a lot on where I was last year compared to this year, and I honestly don’t think I could have picked a better word/theme for my year. In fact, I’m almost sad to see it go. Maybe that’s why it only seemed fitting to have one last daring act — chopping my hair.
I was hoping for something a bit more meaningful or truly daring to end the year with a bang, but for those who know my history with the terrible haircut circa 2009 (I called the little and cried because it looked like a mullet…), this is pretty big. I mean, we’re talking nearly 7 inches off the back. The fact that I legitimately love it is the cherry on top of my year.
Truth be told, I wasn’t sure what 2014 was going to hold for me. Last year was a struggle. All I really knew was that I needed a change. And I can still vividly remember having the song that inspired the word daring come up on my iPod as I was driving to Lincoln for a night with the sisters before heading home for the holidays. I needed something to snap me out of the funk that I’d been in for the latter part of 2013.
“It’s me talking to myself and I think a lot of times I feel stagnant and stuck in the same place,” says Jon. “And ‘Dare You to Move’ is kind of a song for myself to get me up and get me moving and tackling a new part of life.”
Daring was what I needed.
A few months ago I came across an article (and I’m so glad I copied this since the link doesn’t work anymore!) about overcoming obstacles. This particular passage seemed to best capture my sentiments:
My point is, shit happens. Randomly. But here’s an amazing human capacity: We can use virtually any experience as a catalyst for hopelessness or growth. We can see the world as if everything is meaningless or as if everything is meaningful. Each of these positions is equally untestable. So we get to choose.
Many came to say their “bad luck” helped them find strength and resilience they didn’t know they had. They seemed genuinely joyful, transformed in real, measurable ways by terrible mischances. But this positive outcome never happens by accident. Turning a culpa into something felix is a deliberate act of focused attention.
That’s what my year of daring became. It took hard work and deliberate action to usher in a new part of life, to get myself unstuck. It wasn’t always rainbows and sunshine, but underneath even the bad days or experiences, there was genuine joy. I mean, how could there not be when I come home to a furbaby?! And such a handsome one at that!
I’ll be blogging more about how all of this translates into my theme for 2015 (as if there was any doubt that I would…), but somehow it seemed appropriate to start that transition today. Tonight the little flies in and we get to have a sisters night in Lincoln before heading home for the holidays. And unlike last year, I’ll already be in Lincoln, comfortable in my cute rental house with Hurley after spending a day at work talking about evaluation and chronic disease prevention. Even though this has been my life for eight months, it still blows my mind.
Daring is definitely what I needed.
Life After School 