Yesterday was my birthday. I had planned to sleep-in, but I didn’t. My body clock is very hard-wired to awake early so, even with concerted effort, a day rarely goes by that I’m not sliding my feet into slippers well before 5:30.
I didn’t begrudge the early start yesterday; I gladly welcomed it. Each day is a new day and, as a dear friend phrased it, yesterday marked another lap around the sun. For me, it is also marks the start of another year; it’s my personal “New Year’s Day.”
In keeping with that theme, I decided to spend a good part of my day thinking about what gift(s) I wanted to give myself this year. I’ll be sharing more details in a later post, but for this post I’ll share the first gift I gave myself: permission to use my opt out card. As I said at the start of NaBloPoMo, I jumped in again this year with the knowledge I could jump out anytime I wanted. Though I didn’t pack up my swim bag, I did decide to take a break from the water so I could focus on me, my family, and just being still.
And, at the end of the day, I realized I gave myself the very best gift I could, which was a great way to start my next lap around the sun.
What is the best gift you’ve ever given yourself?
by Mary Lanzavecchia 
Happy Belated Birthday, and early (or is it late) New Year! Since you and my husband share the same birthday, for now I’ll just thank his late parents for giving him life. I think he considers part of his purpose to make my life happier. I know that the reverse is a big part of my purpose, especially now that it’s just the two of us here at home most of the time.
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Happy Birthday! I think your opt out gift is a great idea and I’m going to give that to myself on my next birthday – just being still is so precious. 🙂
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