Easing into the new year

A very belated Happy New Year to all of you.  While many have jumped into the new year full speed ahead taking the bull by the horns I am entering this new year a little more cautiously.  I don't really do New Year's resolutions because I've always believed you don't have to wait until the start of a new year to make a positive change but I do understand and applaud the ceremony of it all therefore I am also documenting a few things that I'd like to accomplish.  But why am I dipping one toe into the pool instead of proceeding with an elegant swan dive? Well during the last two months of 2011 many areas of my life took a serious beating. I felt like a prizefighter who took the TKO that ended his career and I wasn't sure how to pull myself up by the bootstraps and move forward.  I did my best to enjoy the holidays with my family and friends but my perceived misfortunes seem to overwhelm me. For about two and half weeks I disconnected myself from the online world, wrote in my journal, read a couple of novels, drank endless cups of tea and slowly started to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  It was time for me to listen to some of my own advice that I had happily dished out over the years such as "This is not a race, find the pace that works for you", "Focus on doing the things you love and the other stuff will follow", and my all time favorite "What's meant for you is for you and nobody can take that away".  One of my dear friends and mentors often talked about how there is a scarcity mentality out there, everyone is afraid that there isn't enough work to go around.  Some have said you can't make a living in this business.  I never worried about things like that because for me its all about being happy and doing what you love.  You get one chance to walk this earth and I know I don't want to be walking around full of regrets.  I'm not trying to be Rockefeller, my needs compared to many are very few. But when you are faced with the reality that you aren't entirely sure how you are going to pay that overpriced cellphone bill at the end of the month you can become paralyzed with fear. And that's what happened to me, and when things like that happen you realize its time to take a step back and re-evaluate, truly think about what's working and what's not. coinicndentially for me this time came between the end of one year and the start of a new one.  I'm still working on the re-evaluation process, taking my time, because life isn't race and I have a family who needs me to be very whole.