What is your BOLD for the New Year?
“Your life is your canvas, and you are the masterpiece. There are a million ways to be kind, amazing, fabulous, creative, bold, and interesting.”
~Kerli
What is your bold for 2023? What will you do, learn, experience, build that will require you to be bold, but that will also give you more boldness, confidence, courage, and joy?
Each year I contemplate the year that is finishing. I consider what I have accomplished, learned, experienced, and what has given me joy. As with every other year, there have been moments of joy and excitement, moments where I felt great pride, and of course moments of sadness, frustration and challenge. I have also had experiences in which I had to be bold, and situations that have helped me increase my overall courage and confidence. Yes, I have also had times in which life seemed to just tried to push me down, but I’m still standing! I hope you are as well… because life brings challenges and triumphs.
“Life is not meant to be lived perfectly but merely to be LIVED. Boldly, wildly, beautifully, uncertainly, imperfectly, magically LIVED. ”
~Mandy Hale
I have many goals that I set for this year that I did not accomplish… as I am certain you do as well. One of the funniest things I have seen on social media recently was a post that said something like… My goal was to lose 15 pounds this year. Just 20 more to go. Isn’t that hilarious… but so true of so many of our plans.
I urge you to keep trying, keeping putting one step in front of the other on your journey. Live boldly and beautifully, not perfectly. I am learning to give myself more grace, to not always expect things to go exactly how I planned, to be okay with so-so. I am really working on trying to live more authentically as myself… the very imperfect but conscientious Sylvia, the introvert that also loves people, and the creative funny middle-aged woman I am.
“Be bold, be brave enough to be your true self.”
~Queen Latifah
I am starting to ponder what my goals for the next year will be. What experiences do I want to have? What do I want to learn? What habits do I hope to build? What actions do I need to take to accomplish my long-term personal and professional goals/ambitions?
My major bold for this next year is to live in the moment. Like many I have a tendency to reflect backwards too much or to look forward too often. I need to live in the present, experience the joys and sorrows in every moment, focus on the here-and-now, listen more attentively and be more present for myself and for others. I want to learn to experience the beauty in life more!
“The flower has opened, has been in the sun and is unafraid. I’m taking more chances; I’m bold and proud.”
~Paula Cole
I am also looking at more and more ways I can positively impact others lives in direct ways. I have found that there is real peace and joy found in helping others, making another’s life easier or happier, teaching someone, and sharing and connecting.
“Your boldness will be a spark that ignites boldness in others. Be a catalyst for the pursuit of all good things.”
~Richelle E. Goodrich
I hope you will join me on the journey to live more boldly in the next year… for yourself and for those around you. Be yourself, live in the present for yourself and for others, and take bold new steps to improve your life and the lives of those around you.
Here’s to a more bold and beautiful life!
Connecting With Sylvia:
- Facebook: @Sylvia Stinson-Perez
- Twitter: @SylviaSPerez101
- American Foundation for the Blind: afb.org
Author Bio:
Sylvia Stinson-Perez has spent her career in the blindness field, and is the Chief Programs Officer for the American Foundation for the Blind. Sylvia believes the authentic shared experience of living with vision loss can lead to the development of bold confidence in living with blindness. She loves helping others find their beauty and courage on this journey.
Sylvia has Master’s degrees in Social Work, Visual Disabilities Rehabilitation, and Business Administration. Sylvia is blind as a result of Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), however, she believes that everyone should have the opportunity to achieve their potential.
Sylvia is a wife, a mother, a friend, an advocate, and a professional dedicated to making a positive difference. She enjoys reading, cooking, travel, crocheting, writing and public speaking, and time with loved ones.
Image Descriptions:
- A person walks a tightrope suspended high in the mountains.
- A bold young woman in safety equipment and helmet in an extreme walk in the mountain.
- A young woman posing with brightly colored paint on her face against a white background.
- Sylvia is wearing a blue dress with a lighthouse behind her as the sun goes down.