It’s taken me a while to write this post because I wasn’t quite sure how to go about attacking the dreaded new year’s post. I say dreaded because I am a cynic. I always have been and always will be, but that doesn’t stop me from trying my hardest to look at the brighter side and make plans for the eventuality that I will by some miracle follow through with something that will surprise myself and all of those around me by the shear positivity of the endeavor. Has this happen yet? No. Do I usually tell others about these plans? No – I know that they won’t happen, so what’s the point? This is why I didn’t make a new year’s blog post like so many other bloggers do. I read quite a few that were hopefully optimistic and full of new year’s resolutions, forward looking or just happy that the past year was over and I marvel at their honesty. I have new year’s resolutions too, but I know they won’t be met so I don’t want to publically broadcast my good intentions but lesser motivation to the world.

The last year has been a journey. I had my son right around the new year, so the majority of my year was spent on maternity leave. Outside of the practicalities of how your live can change when you suddenly introduce a 3.5 kg lump of screaming fuzzy flesh into a family of two frantically busy IT project managers and a 6 year old is always an interesting experiment and the maternity leave was definitely needed. Some other good things have happened in that time:

1. I started knitting for real: this was always something I wanted to be good at but couldn’t quite figure it out.

2. I started blogging: I have ran out of steam lately, but am getting back into the swing of things.

3. I came to peace with the fact that I need to leave my job because there is no future for me here and that will never change: Wise words of advice from me to you – never love your company, job, or role more than you love yourself because it will never love you back.

So if I stop looking backwards for a minute and refuse to share my meaningless resolutions, then what is there to talk about 3 weeks after the fireworks have gone off and the champagne has been drank? There is a limit as to what we can control and what expectations we can reasonably put on ourselves. It’s only for your own good to admit that you have reached the end of a path and that you have no idea as to what you should do next. It’s OK to say “no” if you reason for doing so it to say “yes” to something else you want or need. It’s absolutely necessary to know what your priorities are. And finally, you must remember these points and act on them if you want to preserve any shred of sanity you may have left when times get tough (and times have been tough). Maybe this is the one resolution I can broadcast to the world. Forget losing 5 kg or any of the other cliché resolutions we all hear too often, I am going to spend the next year doing what I want to and following my own rules. I know that is something any of us can do with success if we really want to be happy.