My favorite time of year is the beginning. Everything is possible, it seems so easy to erase all those vices and create new ones. It is a time to resolve to be different, and if you're lucky, motivated, and dedicated enough, those differences might become permanent changes to better yourself. It gives us a reason to look back at what we did right, and what we did wrong in the past year; where we went, what we accomplished, who we loved. And it gives us a chance to look into the future at what we hope to become, the endless opportunities that sometimes get lost in the wildness that makes up our lives.

Last year, I grew in more ways that I could have ever imagined. I feel more whole every day, and every day I realized that I will never be stagnant. My life, my body, my mind, my spirit, and my relationships will always be changing. I have grown in, with, and against those changes this past year. Spending time in Brazil has already changed me, but I think that I can't possibly realize all those changes at one time, and that I'll be experiencing things in many years that are a result of those few months.

I've never felt things as intensely, nor been as numb as I was in Brazil. I think for a time (about a month), I shut off my brain and heart and gave them a rest for a while. And then, when I turned them back on, I had learned all these things about what is and what isn't important.

Another defining part of this year came in reading a book. "Eat, Pray, Love," by Elizabeth Gilbert has changed my world. I discovered that someone had written down, quite eloquently, exactly how I feel about God (or whatever you call it). Read it.

This year I've resolved to do a lot of things differently; they're changes that I need to make but have been lacking the motivation to do. So hopefully, this year I'll make it happen.

Happy new year!!