I always love how the new year makes everyone feel so hopeful and full of possibilities. I always find it a good time to reflect on the past year and what I’d like to see come out of the new year. Hope you all are having a wonderful 2016 so far. We sure are! We spent the new year with some of our best friends, relaxing, hiking and doing what friends do best. More on that later!

By the way, I believe 2015 turned around my view of the outdoors. I used to be someone who really wasn’t a fan of the outdoors, but something changed. So, I’m looking forward to more time outside in this beautiful city in 2016!

But first, here are a few my goals and thoughts for this new year!

1. I really want to focus more on my relationship with God and learning to love others the way he loves me, specifically my husband. As I’ve mentioned before, nothing has taught me more about this than marriage and the last year of living away from most of my family. Under this category falls the concepts of showing grace, not being judgmental and taking people for who they are. All of those things are obviously difficult concepts to make part of our everyday interactions, but worth the effort.

2. I’d like to get more involved in my local community and give back in a tangible way. Whether this means time, money or something else, I’m not sure yet. I’m not exactly sure where I want to focus my spare time and energy (what little of it I have), but I want to find something in my new community that really seems like a place I can make a difference.

3. Continue to find a life balance, which for me, means get enough sleep, exercise consistently, eat well, etc. I find that I feel so much better when I have all these things in order, as well as spending time with God, my husband, family and friends. But for me, I’ve found it’s also really important to know when to slow down and be alone. Blame it on my introverted personality type, but I’ve found I get a little out of whack and overly exhausted if I don’t keep a good balance and recognize when it’s time to pull the reins back a bit on our schedule. Slowing down doesn’t make you a failure and relaxing isn’t the enemy (although it does go against everything in a workaholic American). I suppose learning about this is just part of becoming a grownup. 😉 #adulting

4. Stop worrying so much and start trusting God a bit more. I don’t know about you guys, but I definitely have my moments of worry about the future or life or whatever regardless of how good or bad life may be at the moment. I really like to be in control of things and I like things to work out on my timeline (jokes on me). But, I’m slowly learning that things don’t always go the way you want, sometimes they turn out even better. Half the time, I look back on things I worried about and realize there was simply no need to worry. My older self would probably tell my current self to breathe a little more, relax and trust in God’s plan. If 2015 taught me anything, it was this. But, in 2016, I really want to apply this lesson to every area of my life.

5. I’d like to accomplish a few of our personal goals this year, like buying our first home and traveling to at least one new place together. When I was younger, I made it a lifelong goal to travel to one new place every year…and so far, I’ve been able to do just that.

I can’t wait to see what God has in store for 2016!

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Cheers! xx

Aubrey