Revive

Awe, to return to consciousness or life : become active or flourishing again. This is "Revive." This is what I think most of us want to feel again after a weird year of 2020. Where do I start? Ok, here it goes, We will start with the New Year Resolution.

1. Stick to a healthier diet. What does this mean? I am sorry but I am not giving up cookies. I guess I will eat more fruits and steer clear of soda. If I need something bubbly to drink it will have to be kombucha: It is a fermented, lightly effervescent, sweetened black or green tea drink commonly consumed for its supposed health benefits.

2. Exercise. Of course this would be on my Top Two of my Resolution list. Their are so many exercising options to choose from. Let's see there are Yoga, going for a morning run, squats, push-ups. Why do I feel like I have already ran a marathon just by typing this, Hah! and pfew! I suppose Staying motivated should be for my next choice.

3. Writing more. I have always enjoyed writing. It is a meditation for me. How, I have found some time in between raising Three young children, beats me but I have managed to share a few stories like Water Birth and N0.2 Toilet. I have also found this wonderful blog site called Vocal which has made it much easier to write and share my work with others. There are a lot of things I will still need to learn about writing to reach my New Year Revive goal.

4. Do more random acts of kindness. This one I feel can be for gotten about. It is so easy to get caught up in our everyday life of managing work, bills and taking care of our families, we tend to not put any effort into helping others for no self gain or benefit. These can be simple task, for an example, I was inspired when my husband and I were on our way back home from bringing home lunch when we saw an old man driving down our dirt road. We stop and ask him if he is lost. He started to speak but it was clear he didn't know good English. We finally started to understand he needed to get to the freeway to make it to a town that was about 5 hours away. Sure, we could have pointed him in the direction to go to get there but remember his English was not so good. So, my husband said follow me I will guide you back to the freeway. This was another 20 minutes of our time, however, just to know that we helped someone reach his family, in an unfamiliar place, makes it seem worth a little of your time. I know I would want someone to help my Grandpa if he was lost. There are so many different ways to do more acts of kindness. This one is just a little example.

5. Remove the clutter. I really feel like this one needs to be accomplished. We are always thinking we need to save "things." If it is in a box for years or in the corner of your closet collecting dirt and webs. You probably do not need it anymore. The problem is when you start to really look at the items and say "I want to do this" or "Im gunna do." You either will or you wont. Make a choice cleanse your clutter and this will ultimately Revive your life.

6. Write down something your Grateful for every night. Why is it so easy to ignore this one? I think this is a Great way to start to really appreciate all your days works and struggles. I also feel that by doing this it can keep you on the right path to creating more goals and positive feelings. I am really going to try this out and even share this with my 9 year old.

7. Work on a hobby. I really do have a couple hobbies under my sleeve. I go back to when I first started them I really had no idea what I was doing. All I knew was that I had to research and practice doing them. Now that I know how and I think I am pretty good at them it is time to make some time for them. Who knows, maybe this will inspire a new idea for a new hobby. Practicing your hobby or at least learning a new one will help keep our minds from sinking into some stressful situations.

8. Cooking at home. There are many reasons this one is on my list of Revive. It will give me an opportunity to teach my daughters how to cook and make sure everything is properly cooked and handled. Look 2020 was pretty interesting with all the Open, Close, Take-out only and patio dining. Some of the places I really enjoyed eating at had to replace their cooks and now their food just is not very good.

I am going to stop at Number 8. I totally can keep adding to "my little black book" list of New year resolutions but I want to keep it simple and not Overwhelming. I really hope I can do all of these on this list and I hope it will inspire the reader, too.

It is so important that we all focus on reviving our lives and remind ourselves that we are worth being and living comfortably even in uncertain times. I am glad you chose my Article to read. Happy New Year 2021

Until next time.

Yours truly,

-Ashley M.