Happy New Year everyone!  How is everyone doing in 2015?  Did you end 2014 with a bang and did you start 2015 with an even bigger bang?  Well I sure hope it was an eventful one for you!  Mine was quite interesting actually.  For the first time in years (and I mean like a decade) I tried something different for my new years celebration.  I went out to the Casino during the day, gambled a little and won $250.00, ate a delicious meal at Ruth’s Chris that cost me about $300.00 and got back home at 10:00pm to ring in the new year at home alone and sober while the rest of the world partied on.

For a while, I got into this terrible habit of always wanting to be out and about celebrating with friends and strangers and ringing in the new year drunk and sloppy and well forgetting everything from the previous year and not really knowing how to start the new year.  I loved being the life of the party and dancing away into the wee hours of the night (which became morning).  I loved dressing up and wearing an expensive dress and getting my hair done and blah blah blah.  I would spend about $500 on just one night of partying all to forget what had even happend during the celebrations.

Going into 2015 I wanted to do something completely different and out of my comfort zone.  Having gotten so used to the party life, all my friends had so many events lined up and I was being invited to every possible outing.  I could’ve gone to a million different house parties, driven down to Montreal, could’ve flewn to New York, traveled to Europe or even gone on an all inclusive trip to celebrate in the Bahamas.  However, this year I CHOSE to stay in and ring in the new year sober and conscious with big dreams for my future.

Don’t get me wrong, I still treated myself, I had an extremely expenisve and delicious last meal and spent time with friends gambling and being out of town.  But, my intention to end and start the years right was my main focus this time around.  It was so difficult for me to make this choice because I know I disappointed a lot of people.  I knew that by choosing to stay in, my friends and family felt neglected.  But, this was something I had to do for myself.  I had to stay in to prove to myself that I could be disciplined.  I wanted to make a point to myself that not only could I handle change, but, I could also embrace it with open sober arms.

My intentions for how I want to be in 2015 started off exactly how I wanted, new, different, sober, humble and responsible.  I chose to celebrate this way because it brought me out of my comfort zone; I don’t always need to be partying for every occassion, I can save money while everyone else spends, I can be sober and still enjoy celebrations and I can be alone while the world spends it with others.  This is exactly what I intended for the new year and the renewed me.  I wanted to be at my very best and start the year off with a great nights sleep (I got 10 hours of sleep to be exact).  I wanted a refreshed, renewed me going into 2015 because I wish to accomplish many things.  I had to start small because big changes are coming.  I am helping myself by taking small steps so when the time comes to handle the big obstacles it won’t be as hard.  2015 started off exactly the way I envisioned, with a renewed purpose and sense of self.

“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us”. ~ Hal Borland