Operation Determination: Embrace ALL opportunities

In my head I have been going over and over about what I wanted to write for this post for just about a week now and I have to say my head is exploding with ideas. So let's just start off with this and see where things go:

It seems like there is always something amazing about a brand new year... a fresh start, a clean slate, new goals/dreams for the year to come. Everyone is talking about their resolutions and what they want to accomplish in the new year because with the new year comes so much hope.

It's the first page in YOUR journey for the year!

I am no different... 2016 brings with it a wonderful feeling of hope and a strong belief of great things to come! There are so many opportunities ahead of me/you/us this year... some we may already know about and be training for and others that may come out of the blue when we least expect them.

or 366 with this year being a Leap Year

Some may be disguised as roadblocks. If you take time to embrace what is coming your way, you will learn that even the roadblocks are opportunities for great things. This is something that I have been working to embrace over the past few months and will continue to embrace throughout this year. As I type this, I have come to the conclusion that this is my 2016 motto-

Embrace ALL opportunities, even the roadblocks, as they are opportunities in disguise.

I don't really like making resolutions and have decided to go with a motto for the year (and I have to admit that the whole motto thing transpired as I typed that last paragraph). Let me explain why I am choosing to go this route. First, let's take a look at the difference- a motto is defined as "a short sentence or phrase chosen as encapsulating the beliefs or ideals guiding an individual, family or institution" and a resolution is defined as "1) a firm decision to do or not to do something. 2) The action of solving a problem, dispute, or contentious matter". To me, resolution = DO and motto= mindset, and that is the difference. Yes, one could say that I am making a firm decision to do this during the year but again that is DO. My statement above could totally be considered a resolution but I am choosing to look at it more as a BELIEF or IDEAL that is going to GUIDE me (and my family, even if they don't know it yet) throughout the year... a mindset. I like that the statement is a guide, not a hard and fast rule! I want it to be an ideal that my whole family learns to embrace during 2016 and for the rest of their lives.

If you remember back to this time last year, I selected a word of the year. Last year it was CHALLENGE and it definitely summed up my year. You can read how here. In November when things started to turn around is when I started to embrace my motto for 2016. All of those challenges were roadblocks and once I believed they were also opportunities, that is when things started to turn around for me. Over the past couple of years I lost my belief and I am finally starting to get it back.

So, for 2016 my word is BELIEVE.