A third of the way through January, the holidays are over and most of us are settling back into the flow of normal life. The kids are back in school, we are back in the office, and life is as it was before. Or is it?
The coming of each new calendar year brings change, however subtle, as we adjust our goals, dreams and aspirations and the days begin to grow a little bit longer. We become aware of getting older, sort of like a second birthday, as we reminisce over the months that have so quickly flown by since the prior year's January came and went. Still, there is a calmness that creeps over the masses. We have survived another holiday season of overspending, gluttony and emotional highs and lows as we visited with friends and relatives we only see once in a while.
January is like a sigh of relief, taking us back into the world we know and away from forced smiles, extra-polite words and exhaustion brought on by the "too much" of everything that characterizes the months of November and December.
January for me, too, has been that sigh of relief. During December my partners and I worked furiously to prepare for the opening of our new yoga studio. This morning at 5:30am I sat in the studio breathing contentedly that January sigh. Owning my own business is, no doubt, a huge change for me, but somehow it feels natural and un-frenzied even though we are in the beginning difficult initial stage of marketing our presence and are definitively operating in the red.
When I was a young girl I was encouraged to right essays each January, setting long term aspirations. "Where do you see yourself in five years? In ten years?" I always pictured myself single and successful living in a lofty apartment in some important city like New York, entertaining guests wearing crisp designer clothing. "I will show them," I thought. Sort of a funny dream looking back now.
Never then did I picture myself seated joyfully in the center of a beautiful studio in the heart of
Sugarhouse, teaching people to love themselves and know themselves better. I don't think I even knew what yoga was back then. Neither did I picture myself sitting in my very own office during the day working with great people and doing what I do for a large national financial institution during the toughest downturn in modern history.
I also didn't picture that I would find the greatest success of my life so far through love. Being married to Brooks is being married to my best friend, my most die-hard supporter, my psychologist, teacher and playmate. Finding someone who believes in me even more than I believe in myself has been the greatest gift. Whenever an idea pops through my head, and my "practical" side doubts my abilities, Brooks never doubts. His, "Why not?" attitude has made the most difficult changes and obstacles seem easy-even the humbling challenge of opening a yoga studio in January.
Whatever wishes, dreams, aspirations and changes you may formulate in the new year and every new year forward, let me share with you these words: "Why not?"
Breathing a sigh of relief, following that path you are meant to follow, "Why not?"
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