A Year of Blogging!

It was this day last year that I started writing this blog - I like to start my resolutions just a bit early to get a head start on things!  While I wish I had been a bit more consistent with my posts, I had learned some of the tech skills of reaching a wider audience, and I had something to sell other than my stories so I could make money, it has been an incredibly gratifying and confidence-boosting experience for me!  I have had more than 8000 reads of my 90-something blogs from all over the world, and my facebook friends have proven most loyal and supportive of all.  Plus, it was a goal I set for myself, and I DID IT!

This is where the blog started: on our Christmas holiday vacation in
Hua Hin, Thailand.   Look how inspired and excited I look!

Thank you all for all your positive comments that make me want to keep writing and sharing!  It makes me want to write and get out and tell stories all the more.  This summer I started a novel because of all the positive feedback, and now during recovery from back surgery, I am going to really sink my teeth into it again.

My resolutions for the new year?  (Warning: I aim high.)

• In regard to my blog: to make it more professional and figure out how to reach an even wider audience with it.
• To finish my novel and to find a publisher.  (And, of course, to make it a bestseller.)
• To start a podcast.  (If any of my readership has expertise and wants to pop over to my house in Hong Kong to help me with the logistics, I will serve you popcorn and mulled wine and I'd even pay you!)  Meantime, I already know the name: It's All About Me (and you, too, of course)
• To do some more with my public speaking once I am no longer bedridden.  (Of course, they could always wheel me in on a bed.  I'm sure I could be equally enthralling from a bed as I might be from a podium.) I AM available for public speaking engagements/comedy routines/motivational training, etc, but if you live outside of Hong Kong, you'll have to front my hotel and flight costs as well.  I'm worth it, though!
• To not puff up like a fried Mennonite new year's ball during my recovery and rehabilitation, but to work on fitness and strength.  
• To be able to go hiking with my family this year - not to have to stay at home in bed and in the bath while they are going on their adventures (unless I want to).
• To work on being patient and kind with myself and to fill myself with positive energy regardless of my circumstances.  That means practicing mindfulness,  reading and watching things that make me happy and laugh out loud: For example,  Ellen monologues on  youtube (We don't get the show here in Hong Kong so if any of your want to "tape" it (How old am I, anyway?) and send me some DVDs, I would be eternally grateful.)

Tall orders?  You bet!  But I am the queen of my own life and when I am serious about accomplishing things, I am my own biggest cheering section.  

For you?  Don't be one of those people who says, "I don't make resolutions; it just sets me up for failure."  Change the word resolutions to the word goals and then say that to yourself again.  You don't make goals?  

If you don't make goals, you aren't going to go very far, are you?  It's better to have tried and failed than to never have tried at all.  All my so-called failures are exactly the things that have brought me all my success and happiness in life.  Failure is fantastic.  In fact, I love failure!  (I am the kind of teacher who lets kids take tests again and again until they get 100%.  If kids don't get it, isn't it our job to help them get it?  Hello!)  

Set some goals for the new year, embrace your failures, and, guess what?  You get a new start every day!  Isn't that just grand?  I love it!

I wish you all your happiest year yet!

With gratitude and thanks for your support,

Leah