Happy 2011!

Happy New Year! 11 is my favorite number. I think that means good things for this year. New Years is such an interesting thing to me. Everyone dresses up and wears sparkly things, even though there is really no difference between the night before NYE and the night after. People make resolutions that they can't really keep. Its a big deal, New Years Eve, and last night Maddy made a good point and said that its a big deal because it will never again be the night where 2010 turns into 2011. Either way, I think the only fun thing about NYE is that we've started a tradition of standing on our heads to bring in the new year.

Today I made lists, favorite memories from 2010, things I learned about myself in the past year, etc. But I'm currently listed out. This happens quickly to me. I was thinking about this earlier though. I finished reading the book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. Not the best book I've ever read. Not the worst. I love that it talks about life as a story though. I read all the time on facebook that people say they are making their life great, or making their life fun. How do you make life fun though if you get cancer? Or if someone you love gets cancer? Or your parents get divorced? Or your best friend isn't your best friend anymore? How does that translate to fun? I think a lot of our society wastes way to much time on this concept of being happy, but that's for another time. I know for me, I have emotions and they change quickly and easily. If I'm only wanting a happy life, then I'm only enjoying a few moments of the day and saying the rest of it was just a waste. Donald Miller says that we live a story. Here's some thoughts on that.

"The story is what changes the character, not the inciting incident."

"The character has to jump into the story, into the discomfort and the fear, otherwise the story will never happen."

"The pain made the city more beautiful. The story made us different characters than we would have been if we had skipped the story and showed up at the ending in an easier way."

"The great stories go to those who don't give into fear."

So then I was thinking, what kind of story am I living? If someone wrote it, what would my story be about? So much of the time we want to skip the pain and show up in an easier way. What kind of story am I living that celebrates the pain for what it is, for the way that it is real and hard and scary, for acknowledging that it is changing me?

I want a story that celebrates. That savors, like Annie said last night, every mundane moment. I want a story that looks at uncertainties as possibilities. I want a story that is revolutionary , a story that makes me a learner, a story that I am grateful for. Stories like this don't just happen, you have to make them happen. That's my hope for this year.

There's a sticky note on my desk that says "Live a life that deserves an explanation." Happy 2011. I hope you are a year that deserves an explanation. That is worthy of a story. That is full to the brim with possibility.