Photo: tibchris on Flickr

Here we are at the start of a new year… a new decade… a new era… and a new blog theme.

The Olympics are coming to Vancouver; I have a brand new baby boy; I’ve just begun a year without my day job and I feel like I’m poised on the edge of a cliff, waiting in anticipation of what twists and turns 2010 will bring.

I stopped blogging for a long time. I don’t want to become a “Mommy Blogger”. I don’t believe being a mom is everything I am nor will it ever be, but certainly the past few months have left me with little else to think about. Now that mini-boy is here and mini-man is a big brother I have had some time to think more about how I’d like to take advantage of the upcoming year and the opportunity it presents.

For so long I told myself if I had another child I’d make the most of a year’s maternity leave and try and make my way as a self-employed marketing consutant/contractor with a goal of being self-sufficient and 100% self employed by the time mini-man starts full time school in September 2011. I started blogging; I connected with a host of very skilled people and thought leaders via social media in order to equip myself with the knowledge to move forward confidently; I worked my LinkedIn and Twitter connections and built Urban Shore to draw attention to myself in the local business community. I spent countless hours outside of my day job working towards this goal… it was no small investment. Just ask big-man or mini-man. They’ve both seen far more of the back of me at my computer than they ever should have had to.

Now that my second maternity leave has finally presented itself, I hesitate to keep it up.

I love what I do. I love my day job; I love solving problems; I love communicating with people; I love influencing people and I love seeing the direct results of my efforts. But this year of complete and total uncertainty presents a very special opportunity to do… well, anything.

See, not only am I home every day with my two kids, but big-man has been off work for over a year too. He’s on WorkSafe BC benefits from an injury to his arm that he sustained on the job last December. Now, after months of physiotherapy, surgery and rehabilitation, he’s been told his arm will never be fixed enough to go back in to construction so he’s negotiating for training in another field. Neither of us knows how much longer he’ll be on benefits, nor do we know what the future might have in store for him.

You might think the safe bet might be the best bet in a situation like ours… but for months now I’ve been feeling a pull towards focusing my efforts on other things. Things I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Things I think I was created to do. Things that can and will make a difference in the lives of those around me. And I really don’t care if it will never become lucrative.

I want to spend more quality time enjoying my kids. I want to spend more time enjoying my husband and, let’s face it, being a better wife. I want to spend more time investing in my friends and family… really connecting with them. I want to spend more time enjoying the outdoors, both alone and with my family. And I want to spend more time writing music.

So here’s to a new beginning… of what? I’m not sure. We’ll have to wait and see.

If you could do anything in the world and you knew you couldn’t fail and money was no object… what would you choose to do with your life?