Does a New Year always mean a Fresh Start??

I haven't written too many personal posts yet, and it was never my intention to do so. But when I sat down to write, this all just came out.
Sometimes, we all need a fresh start...

I was super excited about 2015. 2015 seemed to be filled with greatness {not without trials, but good ones}: I would have a 1 year old = awesome fun, I am blogging = I get to have some me time, my husband going back to school = hard, but something great for him and the family, and a potential awesome vacation this summer. Everyone was happy, healthy and life was good.

Then, at almost Christmas time, it all started crumbling to the ground. I have never prayed so much, cried so hard and wished for a period of time to be over, more than the last month.

My friend lost her baby more than halfway through her pregnancy. This devastated me. It was so shocking and unexpected...it completely rocked my world. So I did the only thing I could do - pray. I prayed for my friends, I prayed for that baby and I prayed for their future. We prayed so hard for that little baby before all of this, it only seemed the natural thing to do.

Then on Christmas day, we found out that my grandmother had the flu. Nothing major..then. A couple days later, she was in the hospital with extremely large kidney stones from being dehydrated. It was a very unfortunate series of events that lead to her passing January 6th.

Her very heartbroken husband, my grandfather, is now in the hospital too and it is only a matter of time until he will be with his wife of 67 years once again.

There has been joy sprinkled in: my daughter started walking on New Year's Eve and dear friends of ours had a baby boy on January 7th. It is just so hard to focus that joy when there is so much sadness around you.

The answer to my post question is no. A New Year does not always mean a fresh start. You get to choose when that fresh start is.

I am deciding now that Monday I will start with a "Fresh Start", I'll push my reset button. I don't know when all of this "bad luck" and death will be behind us, and I will never forget any of this, but I will get to decide to have a new outlook. I want to be happy more. I want to enjoy my daughter more.

Some reasons why you may choose to push the reset button:

• You gave up on the resolution you wanted to accomplish
• You are ready for a change in your life
• You {like me} have had a bad string of events

Whatever your reason is, it is not too late.

Starting in February I am going to set a goal for myself each month. One goal. It may be something as small as make the bed everyday or don't go to bed with dishes in the sink or something big like change my eating habits for the month. This way, I will still feel like I am accomplishing something even when I have not even done my personal goals for 2015. I will share my goal with you in the beginning of the month - feel free to share yours too - and a recap of the month prior.

The first day of my fresh start - I will keep a journal. Not a typical journal, but a virtual journal. I am going to use Instagram to try and find joy in each day. I know that I will not be able to take a picture of something everyday, that would be an unrealistic expectation. I just want more days than not to look for the joy in my life. Follow along on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook with #freshstartjoy and join in.

Are you ready for a fresh start? I know I am.