2015: My Year of Selfishness

I recently shared on my Facebook page a quote that stirred something inside of me. Although I searched, I was unable to find who I should attribute the saying to, but one Google search revealed an image that labelled it this way: Three Simple Rules in Life:

1.      If you do not go after what you want, you’ll never have it.

2.      If you do not ask, the answer will always be no.

3.      If you do not step forward, you will always be in the same place.

So when I say that 2015 is my year of selfishness, I’m not subscribing to the traditional definition of the root word, selfish: “(Of a person, action, or motive) lacking consideration for other people; concerned chiefly with one’s own personal profit or pleasure,” as defined by the Oxford Dictionary. I am not without consideration for other people, nor am I mainly obsessed with my own “personal profit or pleasure.”

My Year of Selfishness is about acknowledging what it is I want to achieve, and recognizing what makes my heart tick. My task is, then, to ensure that I take the time to do those things. As Rule #1 suggests, in order to have what I want I have to go after it. That will mean getting up a little earlier in the morning to write. It might mean that one night a week we’ll order in instead of me spending hours in the kitchen.

In this ever-changing and fast-paced world, there are people who have the power to suck the energy, and life, out of us. This will be the year for me to either cut those types of people out of my life or limit my exposure to them. I will seek out life-affirming friendships, people who have the potential to become believing mirrors — that they can believe in me as much as I can believe in them. It could mean spending the weekend at home instead of visiting the in-laws.

If I want 2015 to be a banner year, then I have to be willing to, at times, put myself first without abandoning the people in my life. It’s about the finding balance that I need, and that balance will inevitably create a natural ebb and flow to life. For if I negate myself, and my dreams, for too long, then I will end up miserable — and so will the people around me.

So this is the time for me to step forward in the hope of ending up in a new and better and different place. Letting myself live this year in a state of selfishness will allow me to continue to do the things that I love to do. That is, for me anyway, the key to a happy life.