{Personal post by Emily} Birthdays are fantastic. Filled with anticipation and reflection, they offer us the opportunity to stop and think, “This is my life; am I living it to the fullest?” My birthday was a few days ago on Valentine’s Day [Hmm… I must’ve been born to capture #lovethroughthelens]; and as a gift to myself on my 32nd birthday, I made the following resolutions to live out my 32nd year of life with more heart & purpose:

1. Embrace the struggle. Life IS a struggle. There simply isn’t any way around it. So many times we fight against it instead of working with it. Because if I actually stop to think about it, life without struggle would be so boring. There would be nowhere to go… No way to grow. This year, I choose to embrace the struggle and allow it to make me a better person.
2. Choose gratitude. Our current tech-driven world encourages us to seek – no, to expect – immediate gratification. Yet it seems to create the opposite effect of gratification. It doesn’t leave us grateful; in fact, it gives birth to ingratitude and self-focus. Therefore, this year I choose gratitude. I choose to think of the sunshine instead of the clouds. (Or if there are clouds without sunshine, I choose to dance in the rain. *wink*)
3. Take time to reflect. We all have it: a whirlwind life. I want to make time to reflect more during this next year; and I envision that by doing so, I will create a well out of which joy and gratitude can freely flow. A picture per day. That is how I will pause time long enough to reflect, remember, and embrace this beautiful life.
4. Be present. If you’re anything like me, your mind has innumerable tasks, worries, and/or contemplations rolling around up there at any given moment. I want to be present more… in the present. I want to find a place for those mental contemplations so that I can live in the moment and soak it all in.
5. Gain wisdom. In finality, I want to gain wisdom during this next year of life. If I end the year without having done so, it is the grandest of failures. I don’t want to be the same person tomorrow that I am today. I want to change, improve, and progress into someone kinder, more aware of others, and more selfless. If there is nothing else I can do this year, that will be enough.