What's Your Personal Slogan for 2011?

Hello, Everyone!

It's been quite some time since I lasted posted--yet, although some months have gone by, the time since I last wrote to you seems very short. A combination of events kept me away--a serious ligament injury at the end of May, followed by a couple of months of recovery, a busy time wrapping up a literacy class, followed by a crazy period of starting up another group--and then, winter holidays and a brand new year with its challenges! I'm glad to be back and am excited to hear about YOUR challenges as well as share some of mine!

So, since we're already well into February and far, far away from the time when some of us may have been making those new year's resolutions (and, if statistics hold true, have broken them by now!), I'm not going to talk about 2011 resolutions or goals--and I won't ask you to declare yours, either! Actually, I never really made any this year--one, I rarely hold to them, and two, it just seems like such an outmoded thing to do. Every day brings me challenges and goals, so for me, it's more important to get up each day thinking about what fun (and havoc!) I can generate in the next 24 hours!

Although I didn't make any resolutions for 2011, I did decide to try one new thing: come up with a "slogan" to live and work by this year. I've always admired Eleanor Roosevelt's advice to do one thing every day that scares you. I try to follow that (and most days I do try something a little daunting--calling someone I've put off calling, writing that cheque I've been putting off), but this year I decided that I also wanted to live by my own "slogan." In coming up with this idea, I realized that this, in itself, was a scary undertaking: to create my own "life" slogan and then to actually live by it!

Well, Ms. Roosevelt would be proud of me, I think. I did indeed come up with my own slogan. I decided that it could be no more than three words, and that it must be something I truly believe in and am willing to commit to. So, here it is:

ON MY TERMS

You may be wondering what exactly I mean by that. This year, I've decided that I want to live, work and play on my terms. This does not mean that I won't live with, work with and play with others. It means that I've given myself permission to do what I need to do to accomplish my goals for play, work and life. That may mean that sometimes I will make decisions that, at first glance, may seem odd--like turning down a job or declining an invitation to dinner. However, when faced with such decisions, I ask this question: Is this experience what I truly need now? If the answer is yes, I'll go with that. But, if I find myself wavering and already making excuses for not wanting to do this, I will decline. In the past two months, I've been living by this slogan, asking myself the question, and feeling much more grounded--and happy.

So, you may now want to ask me, "What are some of the situations you've encountered that have forced you to act on your slogan? How does this really work?" I will tell you . . . but not just yet. First, I have a challenge for YOU. Come up with a three-word slogan that you want to live by this year and post it here. You don't have to tell us why--if you don't want to. You don't have to give us examples of how you use it--yet. Just come up with one, post it, and start living by it. The results will amaze you.

Stay tuned for more on how I'm using my slogan to live, work and play by!