For those of you that have been receiving my newsletters for awhile, you know that I’ve been consistently delivering them to your inbox on the first on the month for quite some time, however you’ll notice that this one is a day late. The funny thing for me is that although this wasn’t intentionally done, it reflects they way that I brought in the new year… a little late.

I missed the countdown to midnight and it wasn’t until 10 minutes past that my partner announced to the four of us at our NYE dinner, “It’s 2018. Happy New Year.”

This was the first time in a long time that I haven’t been aware of the strike of midnight on NYE and celebrated in this traditional way, and I could can easily label this tradition (in my mind) the “right” way to celebrate the new year. By doing so my shadow could then use this missed opportunity to celebrate at midnight as ammunition to make me upset about not doing it “right” and find a way to ruin the evening by sending my thoughts down a rabbit hole of negativity all because of one missed moment.

Luckily I have been learning a lot about letting go and going with the flow and have even more practice at observing my thoughts so I was able to choose to celebrate at the moment in which I learned that we were in 2018 continuing the evening as enjoyably as it was going. It’s not like missing the stroke of midnight would prevent me from entering 2018. I was going to be in 2018 whether I liked it or not.

The lesson for me was a reminder that there are times when things don’t go according to plans, and that’s okay. My intention was to celebrate at the very start of 2018, but that didn’t happen. I was 10 minutes late. I could be upset about it, or I could just move on and continue enjoying life. I chose the latter. This whole situation reminds me of a quote from Woody Allen.

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.”

If you’re stuck in the desire to have things work out according to a strict plan with no alternative, you are setting yourself up for a life of suffering. Be flexible and open to things working out differently (and possibly better) than you planned.

And that lesson will become even more important to me this year as I prepare to become a parent in six months. I’m sure my baby will provide me with many opportunities to change my plans and go with the flow. My baby’s needs will be more important than any plans that I have so I will have to be flexible and be in the present moment with him and my partner.

Cheers to easing into 2018 and going with the flow!

And my intention is to be on time with my newsletter next month. :-)