The tagline on my personal instagram account is a song lyric from the band Switchfoot.

“Every breath is a second chance.”

Every moment of our lives we get another chance to live our dreams; to create a life worth living. I believe this all year long, so I am not exactly sure why I get so excited for the start of a new year. I don’t believe we need the beginning of a year to give us permission to make new choices; to try on new hats; to create something different. But today, the second day of the new year, as usual, I am finding myself very excited for the possibilities. Each January 1st I feel like I am given a huge, blank tableau and I can decorate and embellish it to my heart’s desire.

[Tweet “Every moment of our lives we get another chance to live our dreams.”]

I like thinking about what I’m ready for in the new year. Not goals or resolutions, but what I am going to leave myself open to in the year ahead. What chances I am going to take to bring me one step closer to my dreams. How I am going to live large. What I will choose to make my life, my ordinary life, extraordinary.

[Tweet “What chances am I going to take to bring me one step closer to my dreams?”]

I love the new year because I get to take a microscope and really look at my life. I get to see if in the past year I got out of my box and lived; if I made choices that got me away from complacency.

They could be little choices like deciding to go surfing even though the waves are small, taking a class in something I’ve never done before, or traveling to a new place.

Or they could be larger life decisions like changing jobs or going back to work.

A year or so ago, I was pretty invested in going back to work. Before I left my job (many moons ago) to stay home and raise my kids, I was a counselor. I had my Master’s degree and I worked in agencies and school districts with children and their families.  I was good at it. I loved and still love the idea of counseling. Working with kids in need was my forte and I figured that was what I should return to.

I started to submit applications and resumes but found that after being out of the work force for 16 years, it wasn’t going to be that easy to step back into a job. I was feeling very unsure and dejected. If I didn’t go back to being a counselor . . . what would I do?

For a few years, I had  been harboring a desire to open a women’s surf shop. I came to realize however, that being a small brick and mortar business owner was probably not the way to go. I started to feel like a fish out of water; unsure about what I should do.

Life is a funny thing.

At the exact time I was getting rejection emails from school districts and counseling agencies and realizing being a small business owner probably wasn’t in the cards; I started to have thoughts about starting a new blog. After the completion of my first blog, Wahine Wednesdays, I felt I had more to say. I had this nagging voice inside me telling me I needed to follow this passion. (By the way, if YOU have this nagging voice, it is your soul talking to you . . . listen!)

[Tweet “If you hear a nagging voice inside you, it is your soul! Listen!”]

I was apprehensive about exploring this new dream because I was only just beginning to see myself as a writer.  My incredible ineptitude for technology only enhanced my fear in following this road off the beaten path.

The decision to start One Salty Kiss changed the trajectory of my life. I took a sharp left turn off the familiar road and started nurturing this new passion for writing. I was nervous and unsure because starting a blog wasn’t very practical. I was at risk for failure and rejection. I was afraid.

I decided to embrace this new passion, to embrace the fear that came along with it, and open myself up to the potential.

In looking back, I realize I became brave. I became courageous every day as I shed myself of the complacency of my comfort zone. I got better at making myself vulnerable. I got better at doing things even though I was scared; doing them BECAUSE I was scared. Embracing the fear and then just going for it. I got better at being honest; about opening up my heart and not worrying about what people were going to say or think; about taking off the masks I put on to protect myself.

The past year has been an exciting one for me. I feel I have grown in many ways. Some that are apparent and some that are tucked away safely inside me. The encouraging thing is I feel I am just beginning to scratch the surface. I am continuing on this amazing journey called life and each year, each month, each week, each day, each moment I have the chance to do something different. To make any kind of change and see where it takes me.

I read somewhere that the only way to fail at life is to abstain. This is beautiful and empowering. There is no way to fail at life unless we choose to sit it out.

[Tweet “The only way to fail at life is to abstain.”]

I am choosing not to sit this one out. I am telling the coach to put me in.

Whatever decisions I make in 2016 will be the right ones. I might fall on my face or fail epicly, but these failures will take me closer to where I need to be. I will be stronger and better for attempting them.

[Tweet “Even my failures will take me closer to where I need to be; to the end game.”]

If I am mindful on how I want to be in the large and small moments of my life and move in this direction, then I can say I have arrived!

As I say at the end of every year, there is no finish line. There is no tangible award at the end of the race. There is only a desire to live life to the fullest and embrace every thing that comes my way. To grow and to keep getting better.

I am ready to be less concerned about fitting into other’s expectations of me and more concerned with listening to my heart and doing what makes it soar.

[Tweet “I am ready to be less concerned about fitting into other’s expectations of me.”]

I am ready to open myself up to the possibilities of 2016 and to chase my dreams on the daily.

[Tweet “I am ready to chase my dreams on the daily.”]

Are you ready to live your dreams in the new year?

Don’t sit this one out. Tell the coach to put you in!

Salty New Year Kisses,

Karen