The older I get, the faster the years seems to fly by. Is that true for you too?
Here we are at the end of 2013 and looking forward to a brand new year. This was another difficult year for me, and in many ways I’m looking forward to putting it behind me and moving forward with hope.
Looking forward to 2014
I love new beginnings, don’t you? I just love the promise and excitement that a New Year holds! And I have a lot that I’m so excited to share with you in the upcoming year!
• My site will be getting a total redesign/overhaul very soon! I can’t wait for you to see it!
• Along with the redesign, I’m changing the direction of my blog a bit with a new tagline and mission that I’m so excited to share with you!
• My book, Green Your Life is officially launching next week! Look for more details coming soon!
• The first Green Your Life Challenge is going to be happening in February! I hope you’ll join me!
• And much, much more!
Looking Back on 2013
But, I also think it’s good to look back and see what I’ve accomplished and where I’ve fallen short over the past year, so I can grow spiritually and personally. I can see where I’ve come from and how far I’ve come, and think about changes I need to make and ways I can do things even better moving forward.
The Green in 365 series started strong, but didn’t quite go as I’d dreamed and planned when I got burned out and overwhelmed with the grief I was experiencing: On Experiencing the Waves of Grief.
I learned that sometimes it’s okay to just let things go and move forward as best as I can.
And that’s what I’m planning on doing as I move from 2013 into 2014. I know that 2014 will not be perfect or easy. Life is not perfect or easy, and I’m learning to be okay with that.
So I look back to learn from the past (but not dwell too much on it), and I look forward with hope and anticipation for the ways I will grow and the things I will learn in the upcoming year.
Top 13 Posts of 2013
I also wanted to share some of the most popular and my favorite posts from 2013, some that readers really liked, and some that were really important for me to write.
Recipes:
• Strawberry Watermelon Slushies
• Grain-Free Cookie “Dough” Bites
Simplifying:
• Top 10 Reasons Our Family Wants to Live with Less Stuff
• Madness to Manageable: How to Have a Better House by Monday
Natural Living:
Green in the Life: How Using Cloth Diaper Changed My Life
Resources for Finding Real, Local Food
• 5 Newborn Procedures You Can Refuse
Green Cleaning:
• Green Cleaning with Lemon Essential Oil
• 10 Green Cleaners for the Kitchen
• Using Vodka as a Non-Toxic and Frugal Cleaner
Thought Provoking:
On Cancer, My Dad and Standing Up For…
Should Christians Love Shopping?
Au revoir 2013!
How are you looking back on 2013 in order to look forward to 2014 with hope?
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Happy new year! I really admire the way you managed to relax on your ambitious plan to write a daily series last year, yet you still put a lot of great stuff out there!
I think I will look back on 2012 and 2013 as years in which I learned a lot about accepting when things don’t go as planned and growing in new directions. Did you see the Carnival of Natural Parenting about change? I wrote about how I failed to meet most of my goals for my adult life, and why I’m having children 9 years apart, and there are links in my post to another 21 mothers’ stories of life changes.