thoughts on the new year

Well, we're a week into 2013 now. I've been off work for the past 2 weeks so I've had a lot of time to reflect on 2012 and think about the future. Judging by everyone's facebook statuses and blog posts, I think I'm one of the only people out there who is a little sad to say goodbye to 2012. 2012 was a BIG year for me, bigger than I could have ever imagined. I was just beginning this adventure of moving to Spain with no job, no friends, no plans, and not even a specific city to live in. I started out the year not even knowing how long I'd stay, but planned on 1 year, just to make it a nice easy time frame. And here I am almost 1 year later, and now I'm not sure how long I'll stay. Leaving my friends and family a year ago was hard, but I knew I'd see them again. Saying goodbye to people I've met in Madrid is completely different, and I'm not sure if I'll ever see some of them again. I think they people you meet when you first move to a new place have an enormous impact on you, and it can be scary when they move on. I feel like my first year was like the honeymoon phase, and now going into my second year I feel like I really need to have more of a focus, make some real plans. Everything about 2012 was exciting and I guess with it ending I feel pressure to make some big decisions about what to next with my life. I need 2013 to be as significant as 2012, but I'm not really sure how to go about it right now. I saw this quote on Lululemon's instagram page the other day and I really really liked it. I'm not big on new year's resolutions (because I never follow through) but this seemed like a much more do-able concept. Maybe one day it's going for a run or doing yoga, or eating healthy. But it could also be picking up liter or doing a good deed. I plan to live 2013 like this, until I have a definite plan of where to go from here. Until then I'm just going to keep teaching English and enjoy living in Madrid!