Be brave. Be balanced.

This is my motto for 2014.

Honestly, I haven’t been very brave or balanced these last few months. I tend to get stuck in ruts. I get comfortable with the way things are and that makes me lazy. I take the easy way out instead of embracing adventure. I stay home instead of going out. I do things the way I did them last time instead of trying something new. I make excuses for why I should take the easy way out, get more rest, or do less work, instead of pushing myself to go above and beyond or experience something out of my comfort zone.

This year, I want to choose the brave choice more often than the comfortable choice.

I also want to choose balance. My nature is to function at extremes, but in 2014, I’m choosing to focus on moderation. A little bit is good, but a lot is not necessarily better: I want to have a little bit of lots of good things in my life. Overindulgence is never as satisfying as I think it will be in the beginning, so I need to keep the end in mind when choosing my path. A little work, a little rest. Plug in, unplug. Time with others, time alone.

In reflecting on these goals, the phrase be brave, be balanced keeps running through my mind. It’s catchy, which is good, because I need it stick in my brain for a long time to come. I know it’s not a once-and-for-all decision I’ll make for New Years and smugly check off my list.

Be brave, be balanced is a principle for living that I’ll need to return to again and again. I’ll need to keep it in the forefront of my mind each time I’m faced with a decision. Life, after all, is shaped by a long series of decisions. The small choices made moment by moment and day by day are the things that determine the course of our lives and whether we fulfill our purpose, or miss out on what we’ve been put on this planet to accomplish.

To stay or go?

To try it or bow out?

To do a little more or quit while you’re ahead?

There’s no real right or wrong answer to those questions, which is what makes them so hard to answer. But when I’m torn, I can remind myself to choose what’s brave and balanced.  And in those times when I don’t make the best decision, I can relax in the confidence that my progress can’t be broken by a single moment of weakness because the series of choices I’m making creates a powerful and unstoppable momentum that pushes me ever forward.

Be brave, be balanced.

Do you have a motto, theme, or word for 2014?