Happy 2009!

New Years sometimes feels anti-climactic to me. After all of Christmas celebrations, dinners, parties, and services are over, sometimes I feel quite ambivalent about celebrating a new year...I mean really, doesn't it just mean that now we write 2009 instead of 2008? Not that exciting. Of course it's fun to celebrate with family and friends (and, if you're a Girgis, with a midnight family prayer session :)), to have a big dinner or go to a fun party, to toast and drink champagne. I think the reason it feels like a let-down to me is because I know that after January 1, the holiday season is officially over, which means taking down the Christmas decorations, the end of holiday parties, and a return to the real world of school and work. But really, it shouldn't be this way. After looking back on 2008 and reflecting about all of the great things it brought, it's exciting to think about what surprises, twists, and turns 2009 might hold. New friends, stronger relationships with current friends, progress towards career goals, learning, spending more time with family, facing triumphs and challenges with an amazing community of friends to fall back on, and, hopefully, a lot of growth.

I usually don't make real resolutions because I'm notorious for saying I'm going to make a big change, making it for about a month, and forgetting about it forever and ever. Oops. But I do think it's important to look at the next year of life with purpose and intention. So, in the optimistic spirit of New Years and a great start to 2009 so far, here are my resolutions:

1. Be more present. Instead of worrying about "next," instead of constantly thinking about the hurdles or challenges that I know are coming, instead of waiting for "real life" to start, simply living in the present and being intentional about each day, whatever I'm doing, whoever I'm with.
2. Stop overscheduling.
3. Get healthy. Period.
4. Continue to let myself be vulnerable with the people I love. I think I worked on this in 2008 but there is definitely progress to be made.
5. Read more! For fun. Break has been wonderful so far, one of the reasons being the fact that I've totally gotten sucked in to the ridiculous yet addicting Twilight phenomenon. Thanks, Hannah! I miss reading for fun.

That's it for now. A good start for a non-resolutions person, I think :)

Cheers to 2009!