Living Life by a Theme 2011 Recap - A Year of “Doing what makes me Happy”

Every year I live my life by a theme.  The theme is kind of like a resolution for the year but with a new rule to live by.  The theme for this year, 2011, was “Do what makes you happy.”  As I look back at my theme this year I feel like I failed, but then the more I think about it the more I realize I made great strides and I grew as a person, even if some of that growth was sometimes painful, so maybe it wasn’t a complete failure after all. 

When I made my theme doing what makes me happy this year I thought it would be easy and I thought by the end of the year I would be a really happy optimistic gal, well that just isn’t me.  It is against my nature to do what makes me happy all the time because what makes me happy might make other people miserable or upset them.  Also there are other factors that lead to me being miserable or less happy that I have no control over, like tragedy striking my community over and over and the economy.  It was a rough year for Reno and I cried tears, felt the pain and sadness with my community. 

Even with all the tragedy in my community and the tough economic times I was still able to focus on my theme of doing what makes me happy.  A few months into my theme I realized this was going to be a hard year to do what makes me happy, and I seriously questioned if I was up for the challenge.  I thought going out with my friends all the time, buying stuff and taking trips would make me happy, and maybe it would have, but the economy didn’t want to cooperate this year so I have had to put that stuff on hold.  So I decided to do the best I could and focus on the things I could change or control and tried not to worry about the things I can’t control, which is totally against my nature.  By nature I worry and expect the worst, so this year I tried not to let it get the best of me. 

A Little Help from My Friends…

Me & Bridget at her birthday party.

My friend Bridget once gave me some advice about cutting the dead weight from my life, those were her exact words “cut the dead weight” and she wasn’t talking about dieting.  You may have seen another analogy in a chain email that describes how your life is a theater show on stage and only certain people are worthy of sitting in the front row of your life.  Bridget was advising me to be more aware of who was in the front row.  I am really bad at this, it is a weakness and I am at fault. I give out too many front row seats, I comp them, I give them lots of free drinks and I tend to double book people in the front row that shouldn’t be there, or don’t want to be there.   

Here is an example, I had an a-ha moment about my error in the seating chart when a friend told me I wasn’t a bridesmaid in her wedding because we weren’t good friends and most of the other friends in our circle of friends were in the wedding. I thought she was one of my best friends; I had given her a front row seat for the last decade of my life, whether she wanted to be there or not, so it was shocking to me that in her eyes we weren’t good friends.  Looking back I see that this is just one of several examples of front row seats I gave to friends that didn’t want to sit in the front row but I gave them a seat anyway.  The good news is we have been able to stay friends through this misunderstanding of the seating chart to the theater of my life, and I realize now we aren’t best friends and we don’t have to be best friends, but we can still be friends.

So this year as part of my theme of doing what makes me happy I took Bridget’s advice to heart about cutting the dead weight and I stopped focusing on the people that don’t belong in the front row of my life. This year I focused more on my friends that deserved a seat in the front row, and I hope in return that they give me a seat in the front rows of their lives. 

Me & Jana at Jana's Birthday Party

Me & Adrion at the Jason Aldean concert

Over this last year my friendships and bonds grew stronger and I realized that my very closest friends had two things in common, they all felt (and told me in one way or another) that I let too many people in the front row that didn’t deserve to be there, and more importantly they all told me they loved me.  I couldn’t have made it through this year without the love of my family but also the love from my friends, especially Jana, Bridget, Cassandra, Val, Adrion, Jessica and of course my dog Yogi Berra.  These friends made me happy, they made me laugh, and they were always there when I needed them. 

It was a year of growth and there was a lot of happiness with the sadness.  I am going to call it a tie, I didn’t completely succeed at doing what makes me happy, but I also didn’t fail.

Here are the Top 10 things I did, or other people did for me, that made me happy this year. 

1.   My family loves me and supports me.  They are always there for me, they spoil me, and I love to talk and visit with them.  I especially enjoyed spending time with my grandparents this year and my Grandpa Wayne making us Cowboy breakfast after the family reunion campout.

Grandpa Wayne serving Cowboy Breakfast

2.   My friends.  I am blessed to have so many great people in the front row of my life. 

Me & Jessica



Me & Cassandra

  

Me & Val

3.   My community.  We had a rough year; there was a fire, air race crash, motorcycle gang shootout, several other shootings, and lots of foreclosures and bad economic news.  We were on the top of every bad list and on the bottom of every good list, but you know what, we stood up and we kept moving and we worked together as best we could.  We have a lot of work to do but I think if our community can continue to come together we will make it through.  We will find better days in 2012.

4.   Volunteering – Rotary, Leadership Reno Sparks, and Reno Rodeo gave me plenty of opportunities to volunteer.  I enjoy helping and making a difference so volunteering made me happy.

5.   Yogi – he makes me laugh and he makes me cry.  What can I say? I love my dog!

6.   Nevada Outback Trip – I went on an adventure with Bridget and Andy over Memorial Day.  We lived through our journey down the loneliest highway and we made memories and have great stories to tell. 

7.   Boating/Camping – Bullards bar is my favorite lake to go boating and I was lucky enough to make it there a few times this year with my family and friends.

8.   Red Solo Cup – Toby Keith – Every time I hear this song I smile and it makes me laugh.

9.   Matinee Tuesday – Every Tuesday the movie theater shows matinee movies all day and night.  I am cheap and I like a good deal so sometimes I go see movies on Tuesdays and this makes me happy.

1o. My blog – I love having somewhere to write about my past travels and my life theme.  I couldn’t take a vacation this year so blogging about places I went last year gave me a little escape and a taste of vacation.  (Special shout out to Val and Dan, thanks for setting me up with a blog and encouraging me.)

Good riddance 2011 – Welcome 2012!