2012

I'm late to reflect on the new year, but honestly, I thought about the change so little that I just charged ahead focused on the present. While that feels like a healthy approach, it still seems handy to look back and forth a bit...

2011 was a strange year of extremes for us. On the low end, we dealt with nagging depression, lost S's mother to esophageal cancer, had terrible financial stress for much of the year, inherited a second mortgage on a house that refuses to sell, and agonized over whether we can truly be happy where we live.

And yet, when I look back on the year, I mostly think about things at the other extreme:  taking a beach vacation, camping in our tiny trailer, planning our 10-years-belated honeymoon trip. I think about how the sound of S's new [old] car makes him so happy he won't put the windows up. I think about how frequently I want to push pause right. this. second. on my kids at these fun ages. And I think about the enormous shift I've felt in approaching my life with more urgency.

So, while I don't think the number 2012 holds any magic power, I know this is going to be an interesting year for me because I'm already doing things differently.  I've made enough changes lately that I don't have any specific resolutions, but I did make myself a little mnemonic to keep in mind:

A-AFFECTION.  Or friendliness. Whatever – I need to be nicer. To people. Real human people.

P-POSITIVITY.  Not to sound overly dramatic, but while I did not choose to be negative for so many years, I can choose not to stay that way.

T-TENACITY.  Being a quitter is totally lame. I'm 33 years old and overdue to develop the skill to stick with things that aren't easy. Ironman will be a spectacular test of that skill, no?

So, APT is my codeword for 2012...

Makes more sense to me than TAP or PAT... but possibly not as much sense as ATP? 

2012 is APT to be tough and formative.
I shall be an APT student of triathlon training.
I am APT to be embarrassed by this when I reread it next year.