“Live with intention.
Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh.
Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you
love. Live as if this is all there is.” ~Mary Ann Radmacher
Today is February 29th. It feels kind of funny—and
fun to write that because it’s not a common day, is it? I was just thinking
about it actually and we won’t have this day again until 2020. Wow. Think about
that for a bit. What do you think you’ll be doing on February 29th,
2020? How will your life be different? How will it be similar? Who will you be
spending your day with then? Maybe that’s why it’s called Leap Year. Because we
can take a leap into the future (and past if we choose) and imagine all we’ll
accomplish in the next four years. All the adventures we’ll go on. All the love
we’ll give.
Sometimes it’s helpful to look back as well, but only in reflection
upon the lessons we’ve learned, I think, and on how far we’ve come. What were
you doing on February 29th, 2012? I love numbers and dates so I’m
pretty sure I celebrated in some way, but I don’t remember many specifics from that day. I do
know I had just had my first surgery ever four years ago this month. And it
pretty much confirmed that I had a rare condition called the Nutcracker Syndrome, in which my left renal vein was trapped or smooshed by my aorta and
superior mesenteric artery, causing the blood to flow from my kidney in a
different direction towards my left ovary, creating internal varicose veins
which when swollen caused achy pain and during certain times of the month, excruciating
pain. I’m very grateful to say that four years later, my renal vein is flowing
properly now, the varicose veins are not causing hardly any discomfort, and I’m
13 weeks pregnant! An amazing little miracle is growing inside me and that
wonderful little being will be 3 and a half years old next time we have a
February 29th and celebrate Leap Day!
Do you do anything special on Leap Day or during Leap Year?
If not, would you like to start a new tradition? It seems like a good time to
reflect on our journey in this beautiful life and to envision what the future
may hold for us. It’s also a great time to start taking consistent baby steps
towards reaching those goals and dreams of yours. You don’t have to wait until
New Year’s to do so. Or if you had a plan that you began on January 1st
and it’s been hard to keep, now is as good of a time as any to reevaluate why
that plan may have been difficult to maintain and adjust and start again.
What’s
one way you can create a new positive habit today that will get you one step
closer to your dreams? Because once it becomes a habit, each day you will take
one more step and before you know it, you’ll be creating new dreams or adding
to your current dream. And when you look back to reflect on those steps, you’ll
be in awe of all you’ve accomplished because you took that one step today on
February 29th. Let me know how it goes. :-)
