It’s a new year! First post, it’s got that fresh new year smell. Bring on the diet, fitness, finance, tax and organization ads. It’s time for reflecting on the past year, recovering from the holidays, and resolving for the future. And because I am me, we will cover these completely out of order.
For me, 2017 went out with fireworks and 2018 rolled in with fireworks. The good news, no one got burned or needed a trip to the hospital. Generally the new year is a time for change, reflection, and black eyed peas (it’s a southern thing). So what does this Equestrian want to change, reflect on, and eat?
The answer, not much, nothing really, and left overs. “Well aren’t you the oracle of the past, present, and future.” Yeah, I’m practically the Scrooge of New Year. My dad, ever the DAD was throwing around a bunch of jargon like he does, “2018 is the year, I’m going to get in shape, I’m going to eat real food, and I am going to learn spanish.” My dad is in pretty good shape for a Grandpa, he later asked me “What really is ‘real food’?”, and he has been learning Spanish for as long as I can remember, he still hasn’t learned it. My dad is a rather optimistic guy, a real “create your own destiny”, glass is half full, and generally gives people the benefit of the doubt. I too am a happy go lucky kind of person, but about 10-15 years ago, I gave up on resolutions.
That’s right, I don’t do resolutions. “You are un-American, uncultured swine, what is wrong with you?” Well, I tend to be a realist, I realize that you can set goals in January that you hope to maintain for the next 12 months or you can just set goals year round when you either achieve the goal previously set or realize it’s not going to happen. 
For instance, in July, I completely revamped my finances. I could have waited until January but instead, I got a 5 month jump on it. I set a goal in September to go to WEG (World Equestrian Games) in 2018, I bought my tickets then. I decided last year that I wanted to go to the AECs (American Eventing Championships) in 2018. Still planning on it. I decided in April it was time to lose the baby fat, managed to lose most of it by January 1, so that was basically completed prior to even having a chance to become a resolution, had I waited I would have had another 10-15lbs to lose, because at that point I was gaining.
If you had to press me for resolutions this would be my short list:
- Giving Mini Engineering Equestrian more donkey rides.
- Do yoga at least once a week maybe even twice a week.
- Ride a minimum of 4 times a week
- Build and maintain an awesome vegetable garden
As for the reminiscing on last year; I will be honest with you, at the New Year’s party I attended, and all over Facebook the next day, I saw comments about good riddance to 2017, I don’t feel that way at all. 
Have I had a bad year? Not particularly. Have I had a good year? Sure, why not. “Insightful. I can’t believe I am still reading this post.” Well, I could focus on the bad; many months of terrible sleep, mono while being a new mom, Hurricane, major life change a week before Christmas, or I could focus on the positive; starting this blog, celebrating Mini Engineering Equestrian’s first birthday, losing baby weight, getting back to novice level in eventing and winning the year end in the 3′ Jumper division in the local H/J show circuit.
I tend to feel like, for the most part, life seems to have a balance for me. It’s easy to get down when you have an unfortunate event or a series of them at the end of a year, if it makes you feel better to put that behind you along with the year, then by George, do it. But what happens when your unfortunate event/s happen in March? Do you drag that bad juju with you for the next 9 months? I vote no.
I try not to focus on the bad, not always possible, but maybe it’s a good goal to have for this year. 
“Is that you setting a resolution? Come on, you know you wanna, everyone’s doing it.” Maybe, but this is something I always do so I’m not sure it counts. “I saw this thing on pinterest about how you have a jar and write down something you are grateful for every day for the year. They had a cute jar and everything.” My turn to be the sarcastic one… So, like that resolution you made to work out every day, after about a month, you will forget about it. But maybe take 5 minutes today to think of something that was good in 2017, it could just be as small as that stupid joke someone told that turned into a huge inside joke that makes you and your friends smile, or it could be as big as paying off a loan.
As for recovering from the holidays, I ate way too much food, didn’t get to ride much due to weather, and my kid was great at sleeping in, after being up 3 hours in the middle of the night…
“This is nice and all but what about the blog?” Oh yeah, the blog, well let’s play a little Charles Dickens and get a visit from the ghosts of blog past, present, and future.
Past, the 3 top articles from 2017 are:
I Just Saved Hundreds on My Helmet Purchase! Plus the Safest Helmet You can Buy. - Back On Track, Does it Work or is it Snake Oil?
- Space Age Stirrup For Your Safety. Is This The Future Of Stirrups, Or Another Gimmick?
- One notable article that was TEE’s first big one: Stirrup? Stirrdown… Are Free Jump Stirrups Worth The Money?
Present, well lets be honest, life happened so recently not much has come out of this page, but you are reading today’s post.
Future, a few topics I would like to cover this year:
- Slant load vs. Straight load trailers
- Baby Pads vs Saddle Pads vs Poly Pads
- WEG 2018!
- If you have read some of my previous articles, you know, sometimes I write by the seat of my pants, not always great but it happens.
- And as always, if you have a question or suggestion, I love those!
Here is to a wonderful 2018! What are your goals/resolutions?
Disclaimer: I am not a ghost of the past, present, or future, I do not do any of this as a profession, and I am not a financial, tax, fitness, or organization guru.