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New year + resolutions

Happy New Year, friends! Dave and I had a pretty exciting evening celebrating our first New Years in Hong Kong. We had dinner at the InterContinental Hotel which included tickets to the after party and best of all, front row seats to the most incredible fireworks I've ever seen.

The NYE dinner itself was (if I’m being 100% honest) slightly underwhelming, especially given the price. Nothing tasted bad, but I think my hopes were set a little too high, perhaps. It was a buffet, which tends to give me anxiety to begin with, but rather than having food stations or sections where specific items could be found, there was just one long row of food, which meant an extremely long, single file line. Needless to say, I did not get my money’s worth as one trip through took more than 20 minutes, with food getting cold by the end.

The line got so long at one point the staff from the hotel started walking around putting food on the plates of those standing in line (while they continued to wait), which scored points with me, but only added to the chaos of people vs. food. What was lacking in dinner was made up for when it came to dessert. This was the pièce de résistance and saved the meal completely for me (not to mention there was a much shorter line).

We finished our meals just in time to head outside and watch the fireworks over the harbor. When we first arrived in Hong Kong, we had heard that these NYE fireworks were unmatched, and those rumors were most certainly true. Now that the holidays are all over, I feel refreshed and ready to tackle another year with some new goals in mind.

Resolutions

In the past, I’ve usually picked a long list of generic and completely unattainable resolutions that I thought were good, but actually had nothing to do with where I was at in my life at the time. That being said, I’ve decided to put all of my energy and focus in to just two areas that I feel are the best fit for me in the year 2017.

Stop sweating the small stuff

I tend to worry... a lot about a bunch of stupid stuff that keeps me up at night. Even things that have nothing to do with me, or are completely out of my control. For 2017, I’m going to really concentrate on not worrying over everything. And maybe take a mediation course. Being in Hong Kong surrounded by so many temples and such spirituality has inspired me to learn more about mindfulness and the art of relaxation (it's an art to me) and truly being present. Which leads me to my next goal.

Be present

Short and sweet. I need to slow down and pay attention to take everything in as it – appears; smells; sounds; tastes – in front of me. Too often I find myself thinking about the next thing that I don’t really pay attention to what’s happening right in front of me. I honestly think it’s starting to affect my memory. Because I’m always trying to perfectly document something on my phone or think about how I could turn it in to a blog post, I stupidly miss the moment as it happens and then have trouble recalling it later because I wasn’t totally paying attention in the moment.

I’ve taken the past couple of days to try “being present” and have found that I feel more relaxed at the end of the day. It’s tough to train your mind differently (does anyone else feel this way?) but I think it can only be a good thing to slow down and enjoy the moment in real time. I know it won’t happen right away because I have this blog and do strive to share things as they happen and be as transparent as possible, but perhaps understanding that there needs to be a balance is the first step? Stay tuned.

What are some of your New Years resolutions?