2011 was a life-changing year for me. I experienced very real miracles. I learned so much about so many things, including myself. In so many ways, I became a better version of myself. My life truly did change, and it changed for the better. That being said, 2011 was not easy. I struggled with so many frustrations and fears. I was stretched in ways that I had never been stretched before, which was, not surprisingly, uncomfortable. I made so many ridiculous and stupid mistakes; I learned almost as much about how to do things wrong as I did about how to do things right.
If there's anything I've learned from 2011, it's that taking action is the only way to make life worth living. I've found that there's absolutely no pleasure to be found in being stagnant, in meandering across life's plateaus. Sure, sometimes when we climb, we fall. But we have to climb. We learn something every time we fall, if we're paying attention, and there are some things in life that you can't learn by observation—you have to be in there getting your hands and feet and face dirty, getting your knees banged up, scratched and bruised. Standing still isn't an option. It's kind of like my good buddy Garth Brooks says: "Life is not tried, it is merely survived if you're standing outside the fire." (Look it up on YouTube. That song is amazing.)
I'm just sick of letting things happen to me instead of making them happen for me. I don't want to miss anything because I'm too scared or too lazy or too worried about what other people might prefer that I do.
This is part of the reason that (dun-dun-dunDUN!) ...
OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
I'm going to be spending the summer in London.
Yes, my dear darling friends. If you haven't already heard, I'm going to be living across the pond from May to August. (And yes, that means I will be in London for the Summer Olympics. Bow-chicka-wow-wow.) I will be doing a field study, pursuing a research project of my own creation (currently moving in the direction of Renaissance cosmology and religion, and involving lots of churches, artwork, hymns, libraries, galleries, museums, etc.). Am I excited out of my mind? Yes. Am I slightly terrified that the plane will go down and that my body will lie with all those nasty fish that I don't want to eat in the bitter blackness of the very bottom of the Atlantic? Also yes, but somewhat less than the first yes.
London is only one of the Action Items (there's some MO DSS [Missouri Department of Social Services] jargon sneaking into my vernacular) that I'm including in the upcoming year. In fact, some of them have already been accomplished, and with (pardon the toot-toot of my horn here) rather magnificent success.
And so, with that little announcement out in the open....
Hello 2012!
I'll be taking charge of my own life from here on out, mmmk?
This is just a random side note, but I thought you guys should become acquainted with a small fact about what blogging is like for me. It's a lot like the following picture:
So .... that's why there are about a million parenthetical comments laced through these things.
And read this Tumblr*. It's a riot, and where the nice photo/diagram came from.
*Please be aware that the website has rather a significant collection of profane words that it likes to share with readers**.
**So don't look if you're going to be offended by that. Which, of course, you will be, since the nature of profanity is its offensiveness. But blahblahblah we all know this ia a don't-you-ever-say-I-didn't-warn-you blurb. In short: YOU'VE BEEN WARNED, so don't get your panties in a twist after clicking on that link.
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