Link Love // Reflecting

Original image photographed by Amber Mozzo | Found via Delicious Duds

I've just about caught up on all the lovely posts out there reflecting on the past year. I say, it's always important to really understand where you've been in order to know just how you should move forward. While resolutions tend to get a bad rep, I actually think it's healthy to take stock of the things you want out of your life and resolve to carry them through. 

Today, I thought I'd show some link love to a few posts on reflection and renewal that I've recently come across, some of which really resonated with me and where I am right now in my own life. 

+ Anne's post Reflections on the Gift of a Quiet Christmas was a post I read more than once. The first time I read it, I got stuck on the fact that she made a conscious decision to spend Christmas apart from her family.  I could not fathom it. It felt contradictory to everything I've ever known to be true about the holidays. Reading it again, its quiet message sunk in: there is nothing selfish about taking time for yourself, especially when you know you need it most- regardless of the day on the calendar. 

+ Erin just turned The Big Three-Oh. I related to her post yesterday reflecting on what she wants not only out of the coming year, but the next decade in her life. Like Erin, I've been doing a lot of long term thinking of late. I'm feeling like I need to break away from convention and what I feel others might want from me and forge a path all my own. 

+ Victoria's Real Life: When Enough is Enough post really held up the mirror so to speak. There is so much to be grateful about right here and right now and like Victoria, I always find myself wanting to move on to the next best thing. It's good to strive to be better and want more. I've had a lot of amazing things come my way because of that perseverance. But if I had to pinpoint the biggest obstacle to my own contentment, that is most certainly it. It's number uno on my list of priorities to recognize just how good this moment right here, right now is and finally get out of my own way.  It's all about balance.

Have you come across any other must reads out there? 

All the best for a happy weekend...