CandaceMeiler.com

“The picture we paint with our mind’s eye will greatly affect the outcome of performance–choose to paint a masterpiece.”

From the book greatness by David L. Cook

Happy New Year! It’s 2022! I always get excited at the start of a new year. It’s like a clean slate has been laid out before us. A blank canvas full of possibilities. How will the year turn out? Will we paint the same portrait as in years past? Will we paint something new entirely?

On January 1 each year, I always feel something stirring deep inside of me. Like little sparks on the verge of starting a fire in my soul, my mind reels at the possibilities that lay ahead. How will it be different for me? What will I accomplish? How will I be different? Will this finally be the year I suck it up and finish writing the book I started writing 15 years ago? That last one—it looms over me every day. Every. Stinking. Day. But that’s not what I am here to talk about.

For now, let’s talk about comfort.

Have you seen those chunky hand-knitted blankets? The yarn is very thick and you use your hands to do the knitting. No other tools required. (It should be mentioned here that if overthinking were an Olympic sport, I would hold several gold medals. One of my gold medals would be for how long I have thought about these blankets.) I have wanted one of these blankets for years. I would look to buy them, but they were so expensive. I’m a crafty person so I often thought about making one myself but would never take the time to learn. Last year, I finally did it! I made my very own blanket. It isn’t perfect, but it’s beautiful to me. I love to curl up with it and watch Netflix, read, or take a nap. It lays there on the couch beckoning to me every evening when I get home from work or on a cold, windy Sunday afternoon, and most of the time, I comply. It’s warm and cozy. Comfortable.

I love Dr. Pepper. It’s fizzy and sweet. It could quite possibly run in my veins I’ve been drinking it so long. It is, hands down, my favorite drink of all time and, in my opinion, it tastes good with everything. Dr. Pepper is easy. Comfortable.

My husband knows my comfort foods. I’m having a bad day; he suggests pizza for dinner, and I fall in love with him all over again. Pizza is easy. Comfortable.

Pizza, soda, a warm blanket, and Netflix. The moment I realized my ultimate comfort zone is like a pre-teen slumber party is when I knew something had to change.

Let’s go back to those January 1 sparks I mentioned earlier. The problem for me is those sparks never actually take off and start a fire. Can anyone relate? Your resolution to lose weight, workout more, drink more water, eat healthier, etc. You start all “gung-ho,” so to speak, but after a few weeks you realize it’s going to take a lot more hard work than you were expecting and little by little, you fall right back into your old ways. Because it’s easy. Safe. Comfortable.

Is it just me? Even writing this now, I find myself thinking, “What if this year is the same?” My response to myself today is this: “Choose to make it different.” (Yes. I just talked to and answered myself. Don’t judge.)

Can it really be that easy? My answer is no. It isn’t easy and isn’t supposed to be. Of course, some choices are simple—mindless even—but the choices that threaten our comfort—those are hard. They stretch us and make us very uncomfortable. Just because it isn’t easy, though, doesn’t mean it isn’t doable. We just have to make different choices.

I can choose water instead of Dr. Pepper.

I can choose pretty much anything instead of pizza.

I can choose to be productive rather than curling up with my warm, cozy, beautiful handmade blanket. At the very least, I could choose to be productive while I’m curled up with my warm, cozy blanket and my laptop. Where there’s a will there’s a way, right?

My word for 2022 is Choices. I think so many times we fall into the trap of lying to ourselves that we can’t change when the reality is we just don’t want to change because we are comfortable. Sometimes it’s ok to stay the same, but if staying the same is holding you back, it’s time to reevaluate the situation.

That’s what I am doing this year. I am not content with being the same version of me any longer. I love who I am, but I know I can be better, healthier, kinder, more generous, and mentally stronger. Am I still going to eat pizza and drink a Dr. Pepper occasionally? Heck, yes, I am! I love those things, but I am going to focus on choosing healthier things more often. I mean, it’s January 9, 2022, and I haven’t had a soda all year. You may be thinking, “It’s only been 9 days!” and you would be right, but I have chosen water over soda for 9 days in a row when I didn’t even have to. (I am a grown woman after all.) Kind of a huge deal for someone like me. Even so, while I know I could make better health choices, my health isn’t what is holding me back.

I am holding myself back. I am holding myself back because I continuously choose comfort over anything hard. I have set up camp in my comfort zone for far too long and it’s time to step out into greatness.

I wish I could tell you exactly what that looks like for me, but I am not even sure at this very moment. What I do know is it will involve a mental shift. It will involve new choices. Better choices. And it will most definitely involve writing.

 My prayer for 2022 is that I don’t become a new person. None of that “new year, new me” mumbo jumbo. Instead, I pray in 2022 I will continuously choose to be a better version of who I am today.

The choice is all mine.