Starting in 2010 I decided to choose a word as a sort of mantra for the coming year. I gave up resolutions a long time ago and the idea of choosing a word that would set the tone for the 365 days to come really appealed to me. The words I have chosen over the years have been, for the most part, fairly spot on for how each year progressed:
Fortitude {2010} ~ Adaptation {2011} ~ Patience {2012}
Deliberate {2013} ~ Joy {2014} ~ Peace {2015}
During the last couple of weeks I have been thinking about what word would be fitting for the start of 2016 and the kid's book Not Your Typical Dragon kept popping into my head (this is currently one of Jack's favorite books to read at bedtime).
In the book, Crispin is a little dragon who is not typical. You see he cannot breathe fire. He realizes he doesn't fit in, so he runs away from home. During his stint as a runaway, he meets a knight who tries to help him discover his fire breathing abilities. At one point the knight tells him to relax and think about a calm day at the beach, and then he is supposed to think of 100 shiny knights with 100 pointy swords coming after him. But you see, Crispin is not typical your typical dragon... instead of breathing fire, he breathes beach balls.
All of that to say that there are times when I feel like I have 100 shiny knights with 100 pointy swords (figuratively speaking) coming at me from all directions and I really don't want to be the lady that feels like breathing fire. I don't want to be typical in that way.
The more I turned this idea over in my head, the more I thought about the word release and the need to let go of the things that get under my skin the most. Little things like never-ending potty training, sleepless nights with a baby, a dog that barks incessantly (seemingly all the time) and also some bigger things that I have allowed to fester for too long. Instead of being frustrated by these things, I just want to let go of them.
So in 2016, I plan to work on feeling less like breathing fire (figuratively speaking) when I am overwhelmed, and shift my focus to releasing the things that I allow to bother me, and also freeing myself by relinquishing any hurts that I have been holding on to.
More days at the beach with beach balls wouldn't hurt either.
release
[ri-lees]
release
[ri-lees]
verb (used with object), released, releasing.
2. to free from anything that restrains, fastens, etc.
3. to allow to be known, issued, done, or exhibited
4. to give up, relinquish, or surrender
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
2 Timothy 1:7
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