Happy 2017!

Happy New Year! We made it! I was out shopping on NYE, and the cashier said to me,"May your best days of 2016 be your worst days of 2017." As I went home to make resolutions and set goals (because duh, that's what New Year's Eve is for), I couldn't stop thinking about that. 
Every year I make lots of resolutions. I spend a lot of time pouring over my life and deciding what I want to be different and setting goals to reflect that. And of course I did that this weekend. But that comment from the cashier has me thinking, what were my best days of 2016? 
My best day was, hands down, the day Jack was born. Some of my best days were learning how to be his mom, and learning that I could actually be good at this. 
One of my best days was match day, not only because we got good news, but because it meant that I had survived the match process, no matter how many times I thought it just might kill me. 
My best days were vacations. A trip to the Keys, a day at the beach, an afternoon at Universal. Time spent just taking a little break, enjoying life and savoring the moment. 
I hit 5,000 subscribers this year. That was definitely a best day. Knowing that you guys are actually reading what I write and that you care enough about it to sign up to follow along is just amazing. Amazing. 
My best days were spent with my little family, spent traveling, spent staying at home, spent making new friends, spent laughing and watching Netflix and playing games. 
Yes, I had goals this year. Yes, those goals contributed to my best days. But my best days didn't come from setting goals, my best days came from how I decided to live my daily life. 

I decided to make being a good mom a priority, and so little by little, I became a good mom. I decided that I would believe in myself and believe in my own strength, and so day by day, no matter how many difficult seasons I had to walk through (spoiler: a lot of them) or how many phone calls with bad news came or how much loss I experienced, I was okay. I decided I was going to savor the little moments, and I did, every day. I wanted the girl who loved to write to grow, so I spent time every day making that happen. I didn't grow because I set a goal and took big steps to get there, I grew because of little daily decisions...getting less sleep so I could write, watching less tv so I could brainstorm, that kind of thing. The day-to-day isn't as glamourous as setting goals, but it is far more effective. 
I want 2017 to be full of best days. Yes, I hope my resolutions help me change for the better. I hope I meet my big goals. But most of all, I know that if I want to have a year of best days, it doesn't start and end with a list of goals. It starts and ends with daily life and how I choose to live it. 
If setting goals is your thing, I hope you set some really, really great ones. I hope every single one of your resolutions comes true. But more than that, I hope that your daily life sees change. That you make daily decisions to be better, to feel better, to work harder, to slow down, to savor, to do whatever it is that you need to do. 
And I hope that your best days in 2016 seem like your worst of 2017.