What inspires you? Ramblings about a year undiscovered

“Write about your hopes for 2012,” our editor suggested to the sisterhood of bloggers on Todaysparent.com. My hopes. My hopes. I pondered approaches, dreams in my heart, different ideas banging about in my head. Yes, I’ve been procrastinating all week.
 
It’s not that I’m in any way unhopeful about the year ahead. In fact, I like the sound of twenty-twelve (much less awkward than two-thousand-and-eleven, which I kept referring to in long form no matter how hard I tried). But I don’t want to put too much pressure on the year ahead.
 
Where I stand today isn’t so different than where I was a year ago, and that’s OK. It’s a good place. A few surprises: I became a runner (then stopped, but miss it and will pick it back up, starting tomorrow!); I quit Diet Coke; there was a whirlwind vacay in California with Anna and a spontaneous trip to New York City to explore writing ideas; I made a conscious decision to cut myself some slack in the domestic goddess department. I never was her, and wasted too much energy beating myself up about it. I feel more relaxed overall now (my house is messy, though). This year, my daughters have grown (and grown!) and are happy and healthy and, well, what’s more important than that?
 
What will life be like as this year rolls to a close? My kids will be so different. Anna will be six-and-a-half and finished her first half of grade one. Mind blowing. My baby will have turned four, finally reaching her dream of “being a JK.” Where will I be? Who will I be? What will I be doing? Who knows? My biggest “resolution” is to focus on my health and my family, hoping that those priorities will help everything else fall into place. I realized that I’m starting the second half of my life and, while I don’t have a road map for what it will look like, I’m ready to take on whatever comes.
 
In the meantime, I’m inspired by many of the people around me who have been making interesting changes in their lives, including retraining for new careers, and taking leaps of faith in their professional lives — being bold, and letting the mighty forces guide them. I’m lucky to have them. They remind me that anything is possible, and we all need that reminder every once in while, don’t we?
 
A very happy new year to you, my friends, and thank you for reading along and sharing with me.
 
As we crack open a fresh new calendar (and I do adore a fresh new calendar), what is it that inspires you?