Is 2014 your year?

I mean, I know you already have hopes and plans and ambitions. I’m not talking about resolutions, here. I don’t believe in them. Resolutions are “pie crust promises. Easily made. Easily broken.” Thank you, Mary Poppins.

But maybe, just maybe, this is the year you put an end to the excuses. To the distractions and other people’s demands and make the solid, clear, definitive choice to take care of you.

I have no idea where you are as you’re reading this. You may be overweight, depressed and exhausted. That’s where I was when I started running. Or maybe you’re just looking to be more fit, more disciplined, and more consistent in your running and eating and living.

Maybe it’s a tad (or a ton) more serious than that. Maybe you’re in an abusive relationship that you know needs to end. Maybe you’ve known for a long time that your spouse drinks too much and it has to stop. Maybe you’re the one steeped in addiction – to food, to alcohol, to numbing – and you’re done. It’s time to say “when”. WHEN is NOW.

Not Monday. Not a month from now. Not as soon as everything lines up and you have the time and the energy to do what you know God is calling to do.

So where do you start? Start where we always start. You need to listen.

Listen to your heart. Listen to your God. Listen to your body.

And you can’t listen until you get quiet. Really, really quiet. You have to quiet the monkeys and the fears and the doubts and the insecurities.

And if you listen, you’ll hear it.

“Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

Jesus said that when he was here on the earth. And he’s saying it still. To you. Right where you are sitting reading this. So stop and listen and then make a plan, with God’s help, to make 2014 YOUR year. This time next year, let’s have this conversation again. My hope and prayer for you is that you’ll be able to look back and say that you listened, and you acted and you changed.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Lao-tzu (ancient Chinese philosopher)

Happy Running. And changing. And evolving. And Happy New Year.

Jen