2023: The Year that (Re)Introduced Being Well …

My two words for this year were joy and ease. I wanted to intentionally focus on sustained, inner feelings of gratitude, appreciation and peace. I wanted to let go of endless striving and struggling … less strife. And as I’ve learned over the last three years of choosing one – and when appropriate, two – words over New Year’s resolutions, my focus welcomes all the lessons I need to live into my chosen word(s).

This year has been a banger! In all the wonderful and abundant ways, I’ve felt joy! I’ve danced more, traveled more – including short road trips, indulged more in self-care and self-TREATS than I have in a long time. I have enJOYed my year.

But likewise, I’ve had to have some hard conversations with myself. I’ve had to be honest about some of the people I’d chosen to welcome into or keep in my life. AND I had to be honest about me … my choices and the subsequent consequences.

By mid-year I was feeling full. Yes, grateful. Yes, fulfilled. But also like something – somethings – needed to change.

By early fall, I was recommitted to moving my body again. I haven’t exercised regularly in over a year. Meal tracking had become nonexistent. Three months into my journey, I was seeing results and feeling so much better but also realizing I’d done all I could do on my own. Then, insert E2M!

As a result of some very unfortunate events, I was spending time with a close friend and her family. I’ve known this friend and her siblings for over 20 years so when I saw one of her siblings and barely recognized her I was SHOCKED. After a brief conversation, I learned she was a part of a program called Eager 2 Motivate or E2M.

I’ll share more about my journey with E2M in a separate post, but for now suffice it to say a chain of tragic events allowed me to be in proximity to someone who shared their success. And that conversation CHANGED the rest of my year.

In November of this year I started E2M. Never in my life have I been a part of a community like this. And as I dove deeper into my physical health and wellbeing, my commitment to do so spiritually and emotionally also increased.

Quite naturally, friendships, situationships and everything in between came into question. For the first time in a year and a half I was re-embracing sobriety. I was still traveling and still enJOYing myself, but now these ventures included elevenths of physical activity and meditation.

I end this year feeling better than I’ve felt in a LONG time. My circle is MUCH smaller and I have a sticky feeling the purge is not over. But my heart is happy. My body feels healthy. My mind is at ease. AND I’m expectant about the year ahead, as well as all it could bring.

My welcoming of joy and ease has been more than I imagined and exactly what I needed. How has YOUR year been? And what are YOU looking forward to in the year ahead?

XO,

Sabrina