새해 복 많이받으세요

new year's blogging...

Happy New Year. The translation of the above is "receive a lot of new year's 복", whatever that is. I suppose I wish that for everyone, for myself.

New year. Usually I think of the end of August as the new year, but this time my year is actually starting anew, in a new place with a new lifestyle and new surroundings. Well, relatively new. I guess different is a better word.

I’m not too interested in resolutions, I’ve quit smoking already and none of the things I would resolve to do could possibly happen overnight. I’m not interested in putting pressure on myself just to end up feeling guilty.  

I am interested in metamorphosis though, the slow-cooker changes that are bound to happen over the next 8 months. Already, especially last semester, I feel that I’ve changed a lot. I’ve grown more comfortable with my own company, more understanding of the people around me (and not around me), more capable of loving on people through their struggles, better at listening. Calmer in some capacity. Less quick to anger or jump to conclusions. More prayerful. 

So these are my resolution-type items: I will continue to not smoke, I will continue working on becoming healthier, I will become more loving, I will develop better study habits and I will actively turn my heart towards God. I will stay in touch with home. I will stay in touch with myself and not stop writing or creating just because I’m trying to learn Korean. I will not get involved in a romantic relationship (don’t roll your eyes! ok, I rolled mine, too...) I will not heap upon myself the guilt of an over-achieving perfectionis

t. I will try to release that girl and take on a more realistic mantle of flawed but maturing womanhood. I will take my own advice, or try to.

What I want for this year is really simpler than all of that. I just want to be grateful, everyday, for the tremendous blessings that have been heaped on my life. I want to praise God with every word I speak and every action I take. I want to be faithful to my own beliefs and I want to be strong; physically, mentally, spiritually. I want to love, others and myself, with more fervor than I have before. 

Ok. That’s it for now. I wish everything I wished for myself for anyone reading this, along with whatever your hearts want as well. No pressure, no guilt. No worries. Only joy, and gratefulness.

That’s my address. If you’re so inclined, I could really use some more paper love.