What are your themes for 2017?

I have graduated from having specific new years resolutions to nowadays setting 1-2 themes for each year. It’s worked much better for me than strict resolutions. Last year my key theme was to get comfortable with saying no to things and people by default, so that I could achieve more of what is important to me. It worked really well. By having a theme, instead of a resolution, I didn’t beat myself up when things didn’t go perfectly. Rather, I looked for gradual progress.

This year my themes are to be early for everything and to pay down my mortgage. The “being early for everything” was inspired by Barack Obama. You can read about his success secret here. I’m finding this habit to be very rewarding so far in 2017. Not sure yet how to put it into words, but every time I’m early, I feel more confident and calm about what I’m about to be involved in.

Anyway, I didn’t mean to spend so many words talking about myself. Darlene from Suits, Heels and Curves did a great post at the end of December 2016 in which she reflected on her personal growth during 2016. It’s a terrific read. One of the things she writes about is overcoming the need for her clothes and accessories to match. Here’s a quote from her  blog post.

In true Latina form, I grew up in a household where everything matched. The curtains matched the rug that matched to the bathroom towels that of course matched the bedroom sheet sets. And yes, that rule also extended to our fashion selections.

I became fashion-aware in the 1980s, and I think my default need to match came about then. I wish I had more confidence to mix and match different styles. Hopefully, by following fashion bloggers like Darlene, I’ll get more of a clue about how to do that.