happy growth

The last few days have provided multiple "opportunities" (aka: miserable situations) to see if the new skills I've been working on (standing my ground without retaliating, being kind in the midst of hateful actions, speaking truth even in difficult situations) have really taken root.

In 2008 my goal was "no more drama" . . . and bit by bit, I began to look at each aspect of my life & intentionally hit the "delete" button on any drama. 2009 has been the culmination of quite a few of those decisions . . . and I'm happy to say I'm doin' it! Not 100% all the time, but enough to feel deep satisfaction.

So yesterday (which had multiple crazy situations) was a proving ground - and I'm happy to say that at the end of the day, I was laughing & simply moving forward . . . not getting stuck in old patterns, not playing the blame game, not letting it all drag me too far down. We went out to the mall to hang out & at the end of the night, Dan bought me a shirt I've been eyeing for about 2 months. When I asked him why, he said, "Happy growth!"

It was so fun to celebrate the growth . . . and today, I took a friend out to celebrate her growth & got her a couple of cute "growth" shirts too. I love celebrating the things that really matter! (Please excuse the self portrait via mirror!)