farewell to 2011...

2011 was all about "less" - doing less, accumulating less, feeling less guilty, and so on... You might remember my post from the end of last year (although I had to refresh my memory!). And in many ways, it was a year of "less" and, as predicted, also a year of "more" since the notion of "less" gave me room for "more".
Naturally, as 2011 draws to a close, I'm looking ahead at 2012 and thinking about themes and resolutions. And the one that keeps rising to the surface is this:
More about what exactly that means to me, more about what that means to the 38 year-old me, more about what that means to the 38 year-old me as I enter 2012 in my next post. Farewell, 2011. It's been a year. It's been full and empty all at the same time, in all of the right ways. It's been monumental and ordinary all at the same time, and perhaps in the right balance. It's been full of joy and sadness all at the same time, and not just for me but for many close friends and family members. It's been confusing and absolutely clear all at the same time, which often seems to be the way that life comes into focus. So in many ways, 2011 has been a very typical year. And in other ways, it's been completely atypical. I love the messiness of that. I'm not sure I'd know how to live my life any other way. And perhaps that is a good thing because I have a feeling that re-defining myself in 2012 (or at least parts of myself) is going to create a bit of messiness!
P.S. I love the word clouds that NPR creates from time to time. Here's the one for 2011, What It's Been A Good Year For.