I am a notebook-aholic. There. I said it.

I am sure many people can stand up and say, “Hello Nan. I am a notebook-aholic, too.”

I’ve never met a notebook I didn’t like. I especially fell in love with the Clairefontaine and Eccolo lines. Silky smooth, soft paper, blank or lined. Fountain pen-ready (did I tell you I am also a pen-aholic? I love fountain pens). Paper that makes writing a truly beautiful experience.

But notebooks… a book full of clean, fresh, blank pages, just waiting for me. Waiting for brilliant and not so brilliant words, from me. Waiting for thoughts, ideas, ramblings, words, all mine, mine, mine!!

Journals, notebooks, diaries – holder of secrets. I can write anything and it’s a secret no one will know unless I choose to share. Those clean, fresh pages waiting for even better ideas, thoughts and secrets than the last journal. A clean slate.

A clean slate definition:  an opportunity to start over, fresh start, a chance

I think sometimes we are so encouraged by the thought of clean slates and fresh starts because we feel that maybe we can start over and get it right this time, change ourselves – or something in our life – into something better.

I think this is why many people look at New Year’s Eve, going into a new year, as an opportunity to get things changed or right in the NEW year. There is hopefulness that “this year” we will get it right.

And THAT is why I love journals and notebooks. The hopefulness of filling a new one with brilliance to post. The opportunity to use amazing words to help or entertain people. The freedom to write my goals and dreams down to help make them more real. To jot down the many, many thoughts that come to my mind each day.

And just like I can always go to the office supply store and pick up a new, fresh notebook before I’ve even used up my old one, I realized that I do not have to wait until a date on the calendar signifies a new year to give myself a clean slate.

This is something I have learned in the past few months:  you can CHOOSE to start fresh every single morning. TODAY I can start fresh. I can look at what yesterday brought and pick out the perfect moments to duplicate and the not-so-perfect ones to either toss or fix.

As a people, we are so hard on ourselves. We have this unrealistic belief system that we have to be perfect, that we can’t mess up. We hold ourselves to standards higher than is humanly possible to attain.  STOP THAT.

Just like I fall in love with new and unusual notebooks, I made the decision that this year, 2017, that I am going to fall in love with my life. I am going to throw out unrealistic standards and set ONE goal – to be happy and not worry. Is that one? Or two?

You see, that one goal encompasses everything. To be happy and not worry, I get to make choices that lead to that goal, be it health, organization, spiritual, relational, gratitude, etc.

ONE goal that I can start fresh each and every morning with a clean slate. TODAY I can choose right. Yesterday truly is gone and I am the only one who can dwell on it. If I choose to let it go, forgive myself or congratulate myself for things done, then I have a clean slate today to choose better.

This video says it all – DON’T WORRY – BE HAPPY!!  Words to live by.

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