Prompt – What should you have done this year but didn’t because you were too scared, worried, unsure, busy or otherwise deterred from doing? (Bonus: Will you do it?)

I mentioned a couple of weeks back (Make) how I pretty much gave up on crochet all year because of the association it had for me and a hurtful situation.

Thankfully, I have gotten around that, and I have actually completed a couple of things since picking it up again.

One has to wonder how something so incredibly small, like just DOING something (picking up the hook and just STARTING) can have such a profound effect.  It makes you stop and wonder, why didn’t you just do it that way to begin with?

Sure, I know there are reasons – you don’t want to be reminded, you don’t want to feel the hurt again, you have to let time pass, you can name all sorts of things that stop you from just doing it.

So, instead of concentrating on the things that I was too scared, too worried, too unsure of, too busy to do this year, let me celebrate my accomplishments – oops, hole up a minute – I sort of cover that in my newsletter that is going out tomorrow – what?  You are not signed up yet for it?  HA!  Please sign up for it as soon as you can – here, I will make it easy for you (if you are not reading from my blog that is) – just go HERE!!!

And then tomorrow, I will give you my list of some of my accomplishments for the year.

And yes, by all means, I will continue to break through those things I call barriers in 2011 – the fear, the worry, the busy-ness, the indecision.  Gosh, it’s going to be a great year!

Can you give me just three things you are proud of that you did?

Prompt - Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010.

Ok, ever since I saw this at the stroke of midnight last night, I was really resenting having to do another “capture the year” thing – it seems like I have done this a million times already! ::giggle::

But then I thought, what could it hurt?  I love the concept of timers, and let’s see what could happen if I actually spent 5 minutes capturing the moments I want to remember of 2010.  Here we go:

• Being on stage at the CK Uplevel Live Retreat!
• Sitting in Bob & Mary’s living room having a blast doing a podcast.
• Baby Girl and I celebrating our move into our home and being granted an awesome sunset to mark the occasion.
• Being able to live this close to my biggest advocate, my SISTER!
• Baby Girl coming of “age” – but what better way than with a bunch of her GIRL cousins around her to encourage the passage into womanhood.
• Basking in the hot summer sun at Crab Island in Destin, just knowing that this place was indeed my home and happy that I am here!
• Finally understanding the ‘WHY’ of how I tick, and using my unique abilities to propel me into next year.
• Enjoying the warmth and friendship, the understanding and non-judgmental people at the HTA Retreat held in June at Branson!!!
• Making the new friends/clients that I have this year.
• Spending 10 days in Memphis with a great friend that helped me prepare for what was about to become a changing point in my life!  SGGO, I MISS YOU!!!
• Taking a trip with my Mom to Orlando to play DOG SITTER for a client!  HB, I miss you!!!
• Finding a home where 3 families can live together for a common purpose.

Aw shucks, the timer went off!!!  I could have written more!!!

Ok then, I will leave it alone, to be true to the timer!!!

What would you list if you only had 5 minutes?

Prompt – What’s the one thing you have come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it?

I have already spoken on the roughness of the year.

I have already spoken of how instrumental being aware can be.

I have spoken on what support can do for you.  Or have I?

Let’s talk about something I appreciate, and if it wasn’t for this one aspect of my life, I don’t think I could have made it through the year in one piece.  Plain and simple it’s SUPPORT.

If it wasn’t the support that I got from being a member of Happily Thinner After, I really don’t know where I would be.  What were the different aspects of support that kept me sane?

• Accountability – just the mere fact that I had to report in as a coach daily to my clients and weekdays to Boot Camp prohibited me from wallowing in self-pity and feeling of unworthiness.  At least every day when I woke up I had a purpose, I had a plan, somewhere I could feel needed and appreciated (oops, there is that word!!!) without judgment or questions – just a place where I was expected to be.

• Camaraderie – this can surface as any other type of word and mean the same thing, companionship, friendship, community, wherever you feel a sense of belonging, that you are a part of something no matter where you are in life.  It’s such a great feeling to be a part of a group that really, there is nothing new, there isn’t one person on the forums that cannot empathize with you at the very moment you find yourself in.  There are kindred spirits flowing in abundance there, that cannot be beat.

• Encouragement – when I was really at a low point, and I decided to be vulnerable and announce to my cohorts on the forums where I found myself when I left my husband, how the feelings were of hurt, of unworthiness, of shame, of anger, of sorrow, when I allowed my core to be exposed like that, the out pouring of encouragement, the stories of being in the same boat and surviving (and even some being better off because of it) were more than enough to get me and keep me going.  THAT is what support is all about, and for that, I am appreciative.

So yeah, the community at Happily Thinner After is what I have come to appreciate most in the past year, and I express that gratitude by getting my butt in gear and giving back to them.

What have you appreciated most about this year?