Semi-New Year's Resolutions

I have to be honest, I've never been one for New Year's resolutions. I know myself well enough to anticipate the disappointment because of my inattention to detail, follow through...or just plain discipline. Yet starting your life in a new city, job or situation can often alter those preexisting assumptions. When I moved here, just six weeks ago, my resolutions started small--little things like "I will attempt to drive today. I will try a new recipe. I will go to the store." However, after two weeks of living here, my non-existent New Year's resolution turned into a February resolution--"I will look at my day to day life here as an adventure." It's for that exact reason that I even started to share these stories, because I realized that my perspective changed from viewing some tasks as menial and now they have a story to tell.

However, as March rolls around, I identify once again that I can't keep a resolution. Many people have needed to remind me of the adventure, that I have this great opportunity to start completely fresh, "The world is your oyster!" What does that even mean? I suppose now is better than any time to examine that question. What better time to reexamine my life then when I've recently married, moved to a new city, a new country, a new language...leaving everything familiar behind? Yet here I am with "the world as my oyster"--with unlimited choices, options, decisions and what do I do with them? Complain? Mourn the loss of what once was? Search for what I don't have or what I'm missing out on? Where is the gain in that? In turn, not only do I miss the adventure in the little things, I miss everything that surrounds me...including the oyster.

As I reflected on this topic, I researched oysters on Wikipedia, which states: "In nature, pearl oysters produce natural pearls by covering a minute invading parasite with nacre, not by ingesting a grain of sand. Over the years, the irritating object is covered with enough layers of nacre to form what is known as a pearl. There are many different types, colours and shapes of pearl; these qualities depend on the natural pigment of the nacre, and the shape of the original irritants."

According to this definition, the time in journey is a NATURAL process. In turn, I have to expect there to be invasions of distractions, difficulties and dirt along the way. And just as the pearl develops, I too need to realize that it takes years to work through the layers! In the end, the result will look different for each one of us--with difference types, colors and shapes, all depending on the different variants we have. Because in each life there are different "irritants". Perhaps I have found this transition phase challenging, not because of the vast options ahead, but because of the process. I always have viewed change as something positive because of the many possibilities. But with that perspective, I tend to find my value is placed on the end result, thus wanting to rush the process and remove the irritants. In the past, I've always lived my life at full-speed, thus constantly missing the journey along the way. So if I choose to skip the process, then I am in turn sacrificing the pearl.

So today's resolution is: "I will relish the process, embrace the adventure and choose the pearl."