New Year...New Me?

Wow...what can I say except that 2009 was quite honestly a life changing year for me. It certainly had its up and downs, but all in all it was by far one of the best years I have ever had. So here is a brief look back at my year 2009 (in no particular order): ran my first mile in over 7 years; trained for and completed my first triathlon; lost 50 lbs; trained for and ran my first half marathon; bicycled Horsetooth in CO; went to Hawaii; made new friends; let go of some old "friends"; decided that to forgive is often times better than to be "right"; realized that when life is at a peak moment the valley that may follow seems soooooo much deeper; adversely, I realized that without the valleys the peaks are meaningless; let go of old insecurities; allowed new insecurities to creep in and take hold; learned that ALMOST ALWAYS those insecurities are nothing more than nasty negative forces trying to keep you down; spent too much time on facebook seeking validation; spent too much time on facebook trying to help validate others; began my first blog, only to post the link on facebook to once again feed my overwhelming ego; found out that I do NOT have allergies and that the recurring sinus infections were nothing more than the lack of proper antibiotics; found out that I have asthma; FINALLY realized that feeling guilty for eating pizza, hamburgers, cake, French fries, burritos, tacos, ice cream and the like is absolutely useless and only adds fuel to the fire that is my self-loathing-body-image-issues-that-I-have-had-since-childhood; resolved to the idea that I LOVE FOOD and therefore the only way for me to maintain a healthy weight is to work my ASS OFF; decided to start LOVING my body, as it is the only one God gave me and therefore, I should cherish it even when it is not at peak performance (which it has yet to be); stopped making excuses and started facing the truth...oh, and the old Bible verse, "...the truth will set you free" is in fact true; spent ungodly amounts of money on running shoes and attire; realized that I am absolutely terrible when it comes to wastefulness…I am WAY TOO wasteful; I also realized that no matter how disciplined I can be in some areas of my life I absolutely cannot seem to stay disciplined for longer than about 3 days when it comes to keeping a tidy house, laundry, dishes, etc.; caught my first case of acne; had bangs cut to hide said acne; realized that I bake a mean pumpkin cupcake; I also make a mean praline; realized that spending $150 to have my house cleaned BEFORE having everyone over for Christmas was a HUGE waste of money and that money would have been MUCH better spent AFTER everyone had left; realized that I am actually NOT perfect…one can only imagine what a kick in the gut THAT was; I am flawed; learned that there are things completely beyond my control and all I can do is give it up to the good Lord above (I am still working on putting this into practice…perhaps THAT will be 2010)! I hope everyone had as eventful a year as I did, but if not then perhaps 2010 will be your year of metamorphosis. I went from a caterpillar to a butterfly in 2009…now for 2010 I’m going to FLY!!!