Today is the first day of spring, and a time to reflect on the old as well as look forward to the new.

Spring was definitely never my favorite season. When I was a kid, I had the most horrific seasonal allergies, culminating in near-total incapacity in my junior year of college. Since then, I have the odd itchy eyes or stuffiness, but nothing a little antihistamine can’t handle. Fall and winter were my favorite seasons, but as I’ve gotten older, I find myself pulling away from their garishness in favor of the freshness and optimism of spring.

I think that’s much more apparent this year in my pursuit of self-improvement and enrichment. You may have read previously of my New Year’s resolutions and their progress. I have felt myself fall into a depression in the past few weeks that, while I truly feel myself pulling out of it, has dampened my fire slightly.

Now, with the freshness and rebirth of spring, I am feeling a new excitement and anticipation for the future. I am FINALLY starting to use my pool membership to add a little variety to my workout routine, and I’m dabbling in Dr Michael Gregor’s Daily Dozen checklist to ensure that I’m keeping myself accountable as far as getting enough whole foods in my diet. I’ve started cleaning out my bedroom and home office of as much clutter as possible (I’ll probably expand on this in a future post). Also, I’ve decided to teach myself to play the piano, but again, I don’t really have much to say about that yet!

I feel more and more confident in myself and my decisions as the year goes on. Despite bumps in the road, I am happy like I rarely have been before. And it feels so good!