New Year. New Me?

I don’t “do” resolutions.

I can’t even remember a time that I actually tried to make a new year’s resolution. But that doesn’t mean that I haven’t done things to better myself over the years. I suppose I always have ideas and goals—both short-term and long-term—in the back of my mind, and depending on what it is, I will take a step closer to it whenever I can, chipping away at it, or I will think it through over time and finally make the leap when I’m ready. I don’t need a new year to motivate me to do something.

When I look back on 2014, there are a few things that stand out to me—things that I did for myself last year—that were really GOOD. Positive changes, sound decisions. I’m not exaggerating when I say that they are things that changed my life.

Perhaps the biggest was my job change. I started setting that plan into motion at the tail end of 2013, and I worked pretty hard at it until all of the pieces eventually fell into place in March. There were events that occurred at my old job that made it so that I didn’t want to work there anymore, and in a lot of ways, that was really sad for me. I had a good thing going there for quite some time, and then it turned kind of sour. A few months after I left, things improved there again, so it begs the question—should I have stuck it out? Would I have been happy there again?

The thing is: I have no regrets. The path of my career has always been pretty well defined. I have never had to make any excruciatingly difficult decisions, because doors always seem to open for me when they are supposed to. In this aspect of my life, I think that things really do happen for a reason, and as a result, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. I’m working with great people—not that I wasn’t before—and I have more flexibility for my family. I’m growing as a professional. I’m being given valuable opportunities. I’m doing good work, and I like that work. It makes me happy.

On a more personal level, the best thing that I did for myself this year was to start CrossFit. I’ve been going consistently, three times per week, for five months now. I get up in the morning and I go. I don’t ever dread it. I don’t ever consider skipping it (in fact, I feel HORRIBLE guilt if I do miss it, even if for a good reason!). Sure, it’s torture sometimes and there are times that I’m suffering through the workout—and I sure do suffer afterward, sometimes for days afterward—but I finally found something that I love. Or I’m just a masochist and have a strange addiction, but whatever. It’s working for me.

Let me digress for a second… Nora comes to CrossFit with me sometimes, before preschool, and she’ll sit and tinker on the iPad while I work out. For the longest time, I thought she was just playing with her games and learning apps but then I started to discover surprise photos in my Photostream (like the one above!). She takes stealth photos of me (and others) at the gym, which is just hysterical—especially when they are halfway decent and not just a huge blur. And even more so when they have cool filters on them. She cracks me up. Once, she even came home from school with a picture she had drawn, which she later explained to us, “It’s a picture of Mommy lifting weights at the gym.”

So clearly it’s made an impression on her. I love that. It sort of makes me more proud than anything else.

Anyway, I can do things now that I never thought I could do. I have conquered a rope climb—something I couldn’t even do in gym class in elementary school. (But I do need a LOT more practice to do it consistently.) I can also do hand stands now, a skill that eluded me until last week. I just couldn’t do it, and it was mostly a mental thing. I was always afraid I was going to drop myself on my head. But I kept trying and five months later, I got it. These are really small things—I’m still nowhere near a CrossFit “star,” in fact I still feel like a fraud half the time! But they are goals that I’ve accomplished, in addition to just getting off of my ass.

In the short term, another thing I plan to do relative to CrossFit is a nutrition challenge with my gym. It’s something else that I pretty much swore I would never do—after all, one of the primary reasons I work out is SO THAT I CAN EAT. But that’s the thing about CrossFit, I guess, is that you always kind of want to push yourself further and further. CrossFit has changed my body, but not as drastically as I would’ve hoped (at least not yet). And I’ve actually GAINED a few pounds since starting (even though my clothes still fit fine and everything). I’m curious what will happen if I combine the exercise with a modified diet. So we’ll see. That starts January 19 and it goes for five weeks. I’ll probably be posting about it again at some point because I’ll need to chronicle it one way or another so that I’ll remember that a) I CAN survive it, or b) I should never do that again. :)

Lastly, I discovered essential oils last spring. It has been a fun journey, an exploration of the ways I can modify our daily lives to cut out a bunch of chemical and artificial crap and replace them with essential oils. I’m not saying we’re living perfect, natural lives—not at all—but this was a change that was relatively easy to make, one that I could start small with, and then build up more over time. I now make a lot of our own household cleaners and personal care products like bug spray and hand sanitizer. I use them to help with itching, headaches, skin care, sore muscles (of which I’ve had MANY), canker sores, pimples, bug bites, congestion, and the list goes on and on. I diffuse pretty much constantly, now at home AND at work… and even in my car. To help with relaxation, mood lifting, easing anxiety, you name it.

Using essential oils has been eye opening. Definitely helpful. And really, really fun. Over the last nine months, it has become more than a “lifestyle change,” it’s become a hobby. I love them and I want others to love them, too. I always want to share them with anyone who will humor me and listen! I’ve helped friends, family, and strangers with various things, too, all through essential oils. That’s been rewarding in and of itself.

On that note, shameless plug since it’s so relevant to all of this… I’m co-hosting another introduction to essential oils webinar this weekend—Sunday, January 11 at 9:00 p.m. ET / 8:00 p.m. CT / 7:00 p.m. MT / 6:00 p.m. PT. There is a fantastic promotion going on right now, too, for anyone who has ever considered getting started with essential oils. It’s literally the most generous promotion doTERRA offers all year. I’m also placing my own monthly order this weekend, and am always happy to add items to my own order for others to try—and extend my discount (25% off) to you, too.

For an invitation to the webinar or information about oils, to ask questions or whatever, feel free to email me at heatherdriveblog at yahoo dot com.

Of course, my family and our health remain my greatest blessings. I hope that goes without saying. I cherish our time together as best I can. I try to be conscious of it, knowing that time is fleeting and our kids are only going to be small for a short period of time. I’m conscious of it, but try not to dwell on it, because oh.my.god it’s so sad to think about sometimes.

A year is long, but all too short as well. I’m still (mostly) the same person I’ve always been. But I’m also in a very different place in my life than I was 12 months ago, even if I didn’t make the most drastic changes ever. A new job is pretty big, but the other things… they are just a couple of the many decisions I made over the course of 2014 that became pieces of the puzzle of my life. Who knows where they will lead me long term, or what it will look like at the end of 2015.

It’s interesting to think about.

It’ll be fun to find out.