Contemplation...

On this last day of 2011, I've been doing some thinking and a bit of reminiscing...

A friend asked me awhile back if I was happy living where I am. I answered that I was content. After thinking about it, I don't know that content was the right word.

I enjoy the association with coworkers and friends that I never would have known without this experience. I am grateful for all that living and working here has brought me over the past decade and a half.  But as I thought back over that word - content - I realized there are different meanings that can be drawn simply by it's context.  It dawned on me that merely being content isn't good enough if it keeps one stuck in a rut, tied firmly and inextricably to the status quo. I guess maybe I should have said that I am not unhappy with my life as it currently is.

Still, like anyone, I do not know what the future holds in store for me. Perhaps what it holds is more of the same - staying where I am and continuing on. But, if what is on the horizon is something different, something new, then I hope that I am never just willing to settle for something I know simply because it is comfortable or familiar rather than taking a risk on something that is better for me.

I hope I have the courage to go wherever I am meant to go and do whatever I am meant to do.

Thinking back, it feels some days that I have lived a lot of my life playing things safe, willing to sit on the sidelines, blending into the background.  I'm not sure that's much of a way to live life. And - while that doesn't mean I'll be taking up bungee jumping or sky-diving anytime soon - it does mean that perhaps I need to be willing to go out on a limb more... Maybe the time has come to stop "sitting and puttering"... 

Here's to a 2012 filled with all the wonders a new year can hold...