Welcoming change

Yesterday, Jennifer went back to school. She was excited about going back (she sure missed her friends!) but not so excited about going back to her schedule. The schedule that says "no TV or computer after 6 (unless special occasion)" and "in bed no later than 9." Still, she was eager to get back to school and I'm definitely happy about having some extra time to get MORE done.

She's also excited about signing up with basketball. I couldn't sign her up at the Y because my husband doesn't want her doing sports at the Y (which I don't understand, really), but, luckily, the same sports club that she joined to play baseball is also offering basketball, so she's raring to get into that!

When I was getting her ready for school yesterday morning, I had Good Morning America on TV. I put it on every morning and there's also the occasional local news show coming on. Both of us tune in to the weather forecasts on there. Anyway, they were talking about preparations being made for the new president and I started talking with her about that. How we're going to have a brand new president soon. She got excited and I told her, "The President we have now has been the president for your whole life!"

This gave me pause. Wow, has George W. REALLY been in office during the entire lifetime my 7-year-old has been on the planet?? Wow. It's hard to believe, really. Plus, there's the war hanging over her early years of life, too. And September 11th happened a month before she was born.

What a dangerous world she came into!

But I think about how things are going to change now. This is a NEW year. A time for NEW things. We desperately want change -- and already we are seeing that change. Gas prices are at an all-time low. I was literally shocked to see gas cost $1.87 at a local gas station. I couldn't believe my eyes! For the first time in a LOOOONG time, I said 3 words at the gas station I have not said for some time: "Fill it up."

The lowering of gas costs is just the beginning. The inauguration of a brand new Commander in Chief is just the beginning. When Barack Obama won the election, people saw it as a racial victory. However, it would seem to me that it's so much more than that. It opened the door for change. The same change our President-elect has been advocating to his constituents. We have change and there will continue to be change.

I see change in my own life, too. My writing is changing; things are falling into place that didn't before, and I'm moving on to bigger and better things. My attitude is changing; I'm learning to be more resilient to daily burdens, daily pains, and keep on keeping on in the face of troubles. My relationship with my family is changing; I am learning to set boundaries and stand up for myself, rather than do what THEY want me to do. I will honor my heart and be true to myself. Nobody is going to live this life except me and it's not up to them what kind of living I do with it. It's up to me. And I'm learning to just...distance myself from their negativity and criticism, judgments and pressure. I don't need it and it's REALLY time to just shield myself from it.

I also want to stop getting depressed over the bad things in my past. The thing that bothered me the most was WHY those things even happened. I mean, that was my father. That was my brother. WHY did they do those things to me?? But...that's life, you know? Bad things happen. Even in your family, when things like that SHOULDN'T happen. The important thing is that it's over, they're gone, and now I need to make sure I don't let them happen in MY family. That is what I can teach my children: How I was raised and treated won't define how I will raise and treat them. Because I KNOW what was bad and what was wrong. So, I just won't let them happen, and that is what I will take away from those past wrongs.

And that right there is a whole 'nother change, too. Yay!

But the thing about changes: They don't just happen. I mean, you can desire change, but it really takes making a change before there will actually be change. If you want change, make change. Do at least one thing different. Make one change. If you do the same things again and again, you'll just keep getting the same things again and again. BUT if you do something different, that changes things. And it opens the door for MORE changes. That won't happen right away, but it WILL happen. It's like some universal law. Once you change one thing, it starts a domino effect for more changes to happen.

I'm looking forward to what new changes the future brings. This is The Year of Change. Let's make those changes good changes.