Goodbye 2018, Hello 2019

Well, another year is over and it seems to have disappeared as quickly as it came in. It doesn't quite seem like another year is over, but alas here we are tossing 2018 to the side. Sorry 2018, your time is up - 2019 is here and waiting to bust through the door!

As I reflect on 2018, I have no regrets, I have no disappointments, I have no bitterness or anger that I am carrying into the new year. My heart is open, my mind is clear and I am full of gratitude for each day I am given. I'm ever grateful for each experience that I received this year.

We did a lot this year - traveled for work, traveled for fun, went to concerts, opened our new mobile wine bar (The Wine Wagen), spent time in nature, continued my te reo journey, and began a new journey with rongoā Māori (traditional Māori healing) with attending my first Te Rongopae workshop in Aotearoa. I reconnected with old friends and made meaningful connections with new friends, I spent time with immediate and extended whanau (family). I learned new things. I gave myself time.

When I look at the year that will soon pass, I'm most thankful of the people whom I've spent time with or have spent time with me. The time we give others or receive can be the most meaningful gift we get or give and the older I get, the more appreciative I am of this. I'm thankful of the time I've spent outdoors -walking on the ground of different places and feeling the subtle differences of each as my feet press onto the ground, the air brush against my skin, and watch the sun and moon seem so familiar yet somehow quite different in each of these places. I'm grateful for 2018, there were losses, there were triumphs, there were tears shed, there were laughs, there were hugs, there were mistakes, there were moments of singing and dancing and moments of uncertainity and it's through all these moments that help me grow, help me become the person I am, help me become more compassionate, more patient, more loving.

I hope you had a good 2018 and I hope you have a blessed new year, enjoy the moments that present itself, whether good or bad, take the time to pause and reflect and just be present in that moment. You never know what it will bring or what you will learn from it. 

 So cheers to 2018 and cheers to the new year and what it will bring!

“Forget not the past.
The past prepares us for the present.
The present equipped us for the future.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita