the year of do

blur // something you can not see clearly, something that is difficult to remember 

… this picture so perfectly depicts both last year and my hope for the one which has just begun. in 2013 i was part of that blur. it went by so quickly, and as much as i tried to hold and pause and be still, each day just slipped and spun. wen and i have this tradition of naming each year, and last year we had dubbed “the year of go.” i came up with that one, and actually meant it to be a catalyst for travel and seeing / experiencing new things. ironically, we traveled less last year than the year prior, and i think somehow my subconscious or the universe incorrectly interpreted the year of go to mean, just stay really, really, really busy. 

not to say we didn’t have adventures – we did, certainly. in a lot of respects it was an incredible year, with beautiful milestones, significant moments and a few amazing new beginnings. but if i’m really honest, last year felt like i was a passenger on a high speed train, and it’s all a bit blurry.

so my hope, prayer, wish for this year is that i will not simply be caught up in the busyness / blurriness, but rather very intentional. clear. focused.

this year has become “the year of do.” wen came up with it, and it’s meant to inspire action. not busyness, but more an intentional decision to really do the things that we constantly talk about, daydream about, but then brush to the side with excuses of can’t or no time or not now. this is the year of making things happen.

a few months ago i read sheryl sandberg’s book lean in, and the one thing that stuck out to me the most was a brief mention of a poster that hung in her office (or someone’s office, honestly can’t remember). it simply stated, done is better than perfect. i carried this statement around with me for a few months, and recently thought back to it as we embarked upon the year of do. it’s super fitting for me and any others who struggle with a degree of perfectionism (ick). take this blog, for example. i have a million (ok, maybe 10) posts that i want / need to write – trips we took, first day of school, etc. these lingered over my head for weeks and then into months … and suddenly christmas arrived and i wanted to write about chopping down trees and opening gifts and celebrating with the chicklets. but i wouldn’t let myself write those things until i had done the events which happened previously … so in the end, none of it happened. except … swirling brain, busyness, blurryness.

so in the spirit of the year of do, i’m going to write those posts. they may not be in order, but again, done is better than perfect. and i actually think writing about a trip to barcelona which took place in august might be kind of awesome in the middle of january. who doesn’t want to think about sun and beach when the weather outside is so frightful? (it might even lead to booking a flight somewhere warm, in the spirit of “the year of do” – i DO want to be in barcelona right now!).

cheers to the year of do. to a year of focus and intention. of less blurry.  more centered. less perfection. more done. less no, more yes. you get the point.

xo from a chilly nuremberg.