Cheers to the New Year

As the clock ticks on and I replace the calendar hanging above my bed, I can't help but look back at the year 2013.  I had what I would say was a great year.
Highlights:
- solidified myself in some awesome friends groups
- moved into a house with 4 of my closest friends
- started a fulfilling romantic relationship
- completed my first year of college (with a 4.0)
- competed in my first climbing competition (took 2nd)
- took a variety of climbing and backpacking trips throughout the northwest
- learned to fly fish
- took the most interesting class imaginable
- discovered a lot about myself in general
- felt confident that every single person in my life knew how deeply I care for then

And while I had a fantastic year, I can't help but think of this new year - 2014 - and wonder what could lie ahead. Though it remains a mystery, I do know there are some areas of my life I want to alter or emphasize. And when I look back at the year from January 1st of 2015 I will know that, no matter what the year brings, I am a step closer to being the woman I want to be.
Resolutions:
- write more
- worry less
- love endlessly
- hesitate less; if I want to say something, I will do it. No matter how scary it may seem.
- climb more - for me, not for anyone or anything else
- care: less about other people's thoughts of me and more about my words/actions to other people
- be transparent: to not only others, but myself
- don't settle. If my friends have shown me anything it is that loved is not reserved for the perfect and that love knows no bounds and will make itself known at all times. Anything less than this is not worth being around. I may not me loved by everyone, but the people that do love me have shown me how it should feel, so why would I accept anything less than that?
- trust deeper
- assume less
- dance more
- feel no shame. I am happy with the life I have created for myself and the person I am discovering myself to be, and I need to stand up for those things more.
- be easier on myself
- live day by day and moment by moment
- deliver an awesome speech at my sister's wedding
- sky dive again
- work a forest service or fish & game job
- finish my first draft of the book I've been working on
- laugh daily

I'm sure this list will only lengthen as I think of new things - steps I can take towards a state of being rather than becoming. I am lucky beyond belief to have the life I have, the friends and family I have, the dreams I have. And this year I hope to capitalize on all of that by bettering myself; because the one common element through all the areas of my life is exactly that: me. I am the constant, not my friends or family or studies or any of that. And if I want to get the most out of each and every moment, then I need to accept that the only thing I have control over is myself, and I need to use that control to bring as much positive energy as possible to every aspect of my life. We are small, insignificant, unoriginal creatures. And yet the whole world lies at our fingertips.