RAPATAPAT 2 C O R I N T H I A N S 1 2 9 A N D H E H A S S A I D T O M E M Y G R A C E I S S U F F I C I E N T F O R Y O U F O R P O W E R I S P E R F E C T E D I N W E A K N E S S M O S T G L A D L Y T H E R E F O R E I W I L L R A T H E R B O A S T A B O U T M Y W E A K N E S S E S S O T H A T T H E P O W E R O F C H R I S T M A Y R E S T I N M E
For those who don't know...I've had a pretty crazy and hectic year end / new year. I know...it's already a week after the New Year...but I've finally had a bit of time to reflect and journal about things.
Life in 2007 was amazing...and I totally praise God for it. The goal I had for 2007 can be summed up in one word..."CHANGE"...and the quote I thought about often for inspiration was this:
"the definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting a different result" (Albert Einstein)
I don't know if I lived up to this goal of change...but I certainly did try. This year, I gained ground in new milestones in my career, built great new friendships and relationships, dating life started to flourish, joined a new christian community, started a new business venture, and my inclination to try new things was, well...fun and exciting. To tell you the truth...life with this mantra of "change" felt like it couldn't get any better. I had this dream job, which I loved, that afforded me an unbelievable amount of extra time and financial freedom to let me pursue personal goals and hobbies. It's an understatment to say...life was good.
But, 2007 being my year of change...CHANGE is exactly what rained down at the end of the year. It felt like anything and everything bad that could've happened...all decided to occur in December. From getting laid off with Citibank right before Christmas...to my entire industry crumbling into shambles...to even small things like getting my car broken into and my laptop stolen (which is actually a huge thing for a computer geek like me)...the message seemed clear. It sounded like God was saying, "you wanted change?...you got it! let me take a bunch of stuff away from you and you can totally start fresh" (I know that's probably totally unbiblical...but that's what it felt like).
My world got rocked at year end...but strangely enough...I'm actually kinda excited about what lies ahead! I guess thru my lifetime...I've noticed this weird pattern that whenever God rocks my world and sends me on a new adventure...he seems to make life a little more interesting and always takes care of me.
Now, the most asked question I've been getting recently, "So what's the next step?"...
2008...A NEW CHAPTER...
Yea, I know..."A New Chapter"...sounds so cliche for the new year. But truly, I anticipate the level of change this year in my life will make 07 look like a practice round!
(Tangent) I've been asking many people what their new year's resolutions are...and I've been shocked to hear how many people are adverse to making resolutions nowadays, so they simply forgo them. For me, I love new year's resolutions...it's a perfect time to reflect on what I coulda done better...and how to improve. I think people are adverse to new year's resolutions mainly because they are traditionally meant to be broken...so what's the point right?
Well...my solution is not to call it a new year's resolution...maybe it's the english lit major in me...but semantics is everything...and the curse of the failed New Year's resolution is undeniable. The idea of a resolution, I agree, has lost all its effect and intent. I've been reading recently about the power of ideas and how to convey them...and I think that the IDEA of New Year's resolutions have lost it's effect because people have too many resolutions. They suffer from what's called Paralysis of Choice. To help explain, there's a medical scenario where a group of doctors were given the medical history of a man needing surgery. Just before surgery, they are told that one medication hasn't been tried yet. Almost 50% of the doctors chose to try that medication to perhaps avoid the painful surgery. Another group of doctors were given the same patient, but this time, they were presented with two medications to try to perhaps avoid the surgery. The surprising result was that only about 25% of this second group of doctors chose to try the non-surgical option. This is called Paralysis of Choice. Much like hearing a three point sermon versus a one point sermon...the effect of the idea conveyed actually gets diminished. The fact is, people...that's you and me...are actually rather simple, and we can probably only wrap our hands around one idea at a time. This is why instead of making a New Year's resolution...for my life...I want one THEME for the year!
(Untangent) So...as I was thinking about my theme...this one phrase kept on popping up in my head, so I'm gonna go with it. My THEME for this year is simple... "BE BOLD in '08!" . There are so many things I feel God is calling me to accomplish this year...I feel like I just need to BE BOLD and do them...to take action without fear in the big and small things. My first order of business in '08...to TRAVEL BODLY...I'll be taking a 2 month trip to Asia to recharge and get my bearings...plus, it's customary for me to do extended travel when starting a new chapter in life :) . And, in keeping with the tradition of last year, the quote I am inspired by is this:
"If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I'm about to do today? And whenever the answer has been 'no' for too many days in a row...I know I need to change something" (Steve Jobs)
And here's the context from where this quote was taken:
Anyways...if you were foolish enough to read this far down...I'd really like to know...what's your THEME for the new year?
...woohoo...summer's here. gonna try to make this an eventful one this year! decided to do a little kayaking to kick off the fun...who want's to go white water kayaking sometime this summer?
...can't believe this is the halfway point of the year already!...so many goals...so little time...
alrighty...gonna try posting more blogs and taking more pics again...haven't been using my camera at all...and missing too many kodak moments.
anyways...pretty fun trip back down memory lane hanging out at cal...this town is so much fun when you don't have to go to class!!
Sharffen Berger Chocolate Factory Tour! ...good find kristina! highly recommend the tour...they give you free chocolate samples and you leave feeling like a chocolate connoiseur...
Berkeley Marina
Geocaching! What a cool game! ...finding hidden treasures around town with a GPS. I'm gonna start a new counter culture though... 'Rise of the Muggles'!!
Open Mic Night ...definitely gotta start going to these things around LA...pretty entertaining!
