Mostly Sunny

2026/01/01

I've had a really good start to the new year. I've been journaling throughout the day using my new technique that I've been working on. I'll be tweaking it along the way. It felt really good to be journaling this way today. Some of what I journaled will inspire parts of this blog entry.

One of the first things I do is identify my internal weather. That's basically how I feel using terms typically associated with weather. For me today, it started out as mostly sunny. I was feeling the warm of the sun while seeing some scattered clouds hanging about. I also had an energy level of 6 out of 10. Both of these were impacted by my late night with New Year's Eve last night. Although I slept well, I only slept about 4 and half hours at most. I tried to sleep longer. But the actual sun was quite bright today...LOL As usual, I woke with a little anxiety...aka, some clouds. But overall, I was in good spirits this morning...aka, mostly sunny...hehehe

I am so glad I stayed up last night. Like we did a year ago, Cherie and I took communion independently at the same time as the clock struck twelve in our respective time zones. That is such a great way to start the calendar year. I still take communion most mornings at breakfast. But there are these special times that I love to do it too. We later had a video call where we took communion together. More on our video call in a moment...hehehe I find a special connection with communion and what it means to me. So doing it as often as I do now, I feel Blessed. I've been doing my breakfast communion for about a year now. And in our fellowship for quite some time too.

We had are call earlier than usual today. It was morning for her and the afternoon for me. I'm glad we did it early today. I was able to push my chores to the late afternoon into the evening. Plus I'm a bit worn from the late night last night. So, our call happened when I was still energetic and could engage best for the day. The reason we did it today was we did our Christmas time together. I read from Matthew again. I think I read many more passages last year. But I focused on the Magi only this time. Their example is why I exchange gifts at Christmas. Bringing that tradition into our friendship feels appropriate since we are also in fellowship together. I'm so grateful for the wonderful hats she gave me. Two of them are dapper to go with my dapper attire. I'll also wear them with my retro and casual wear. And she also gave me a Dodgers championship ball cap. I'm so excited to be adding all of these to my growing collection! They are like warm hugs for head!

I love our new Bible study. I went over the intro for it today. It has inspired me to integrate parts of it into my daily journal. And the artwork at the start of each week has inspired me to do a small art piece each week based on what is in the Bible study. I've already visualized something I'll be working on this weekend as sort of a pre-Bible study piece. I'm very much looking forward to doing the study with Cherie and all of the things it is inspiring in my heart ❤️ I haven't been this excited in years...if ever! LOL

For the first time in years, I'm not starting off the year thinking about moving...LOL In fact, I'm pretty certain I will not be moving this year. And I'm not really hoping to move yet. I know I am not planted here. But I'm also very content with my home. That began last year, of course. And now, I'm not focusing on where I will go next. I'll know when it's time. I'll be ready when that time comes. And I'll be happy right where I am in the meantime.

I'm looking forward to growing closer to God this year. These past few years of growth have been amazing! I can't wait for more! As part of my new journaling, I write some prayers down. I love to prayer journal. I'm still new with it. But I see it helping with my growth even further. For now, it is pretty simple. But I can see how prayer journaling will continue to grow as I do.

I took an afternoon walk. I hadn't walked much for a while. On this walk, I went at a brisk pace. I only stopped to take a few videos. It was great to get my heart rate up again. It has been a while since I've walked for exercise. I hope to get back up to a jogging pace sometime this year. I did that 3 years ago when I began my health journey. It's time to get back to that this year.

My upstairs neighbor has been a lot louder lately. I used to rarely hear him. Now, I hear things all the time. Especially his TV. He isn't being obnoxious. At least not intentionally. But it's something I need to get used to. I've spent most of my adult life in apartments. This is the first nicer building I've lived in where I can hear my neighbors. The only other time I've experienced this was in a slum I once lived in. The best way for me to deal with it at this place is to always have something going in my own home. Like TV or music. I don't have to have it very loud to drown out the other sounds from the neighbors, though. It just means I don't have a lot of silence.

Speaking of silence, there was a moment last night that was very strange for me. All the way up to midnight last night, I heard parties and fireworks. Not long after midnight, it was silent as the grave...LOL I was up past 3am. For a few hours before bed, it was like I was the only one on earth. If I hadn't been texting with Cherie, I would have wondered if I truly was the last of us...LOL j/k

Once again, I typed out this entry instead of doing a handwritten first draft. Since I did so much handwriting in my journal today, I decided I just wanted to type tonight. Perhaps this will be how I handle the blog for now. Handwrite my raw journal. And then type out what is presentable here. That sounds like a good plan...hehehe

My day is ending with a mostly sunny outlook still. That's a good feeling. I'm grateful for today. I'm grateful for this past year. And I'm grateful for what is to be in this new year. As Cherie so eloquently put it on her lovely letter board for this month, the journey is about un-becoming what isn't you. I'm going to continue un-becoming what isn't me. I trust God's process on my journey. And, again, I'm grateful ❤️