Here we are at the end of one year and the start of another. Just like every other year I can remember, life continues to have it’s ups and downs. During this year, my Mum died and the passing has caused me to reflect quite a lot on my childhood and the part she played in making me the person I eventually became. I will always be grateful to my parents for teaching me the important things in life and I hope that one day, my children might think something similar about my influence on their lives.
Despite the sadness that surrounded Mum’s passing away, it has actually been a wonderful year for me personally. As you may know, this was the year that I achieved one of my big goals – to quit my day job. One of the best days of my life was when I handed in my notice to the company I previously worked for and I finally did that back in August. It is now almost four months that I have been earning my full time income on the web. So, if you have a similar dream, I hope you can take a little encouragement from my story. You can read more about it here.
If the last year has had more downs than ups for you, then I hope you can renew your spirit and recognise that although we cannot change the past, your future has still not been written. I am not a fan of New Year’s resolutions, but nevertheless the beginning of a year is always a good time to reflect on where we are in relation to our personal mission and goals and also to take time to think forward a little, beyond the current mission. Life belongs to the living – I feel sure that was the sentiment of Jesus when he said “let the dead bury their own.” So remember to be thankful for what has gone before, no matter how hard that may be for you, and start thinking about your future.
For me, I intend to continue along the current path, developing White Dove Books and building it up into an even better resource for anyone interested in personal development. In particular, I want to rework the Free eBooks section and considerably expand it. If you have a book in you and would like it published at our site, in the free books section, please contact me. Your book needs to be on one of the themes of our site and it, naturally, needs to be well written, grammatically correct and proof read. If you have a website or blog of your own, this can be an excellent way of generating free traffic to your site – we get around 160K visitors per month at present, which is almost 2 million people per year.
If you would like to help spread the word, please visit our Facebook fan page here and click the ‘Like’ button. Your friends will then be able to visit the facebook page and get immediate access to 12 of our free books. They can choose to sign up for the Newsletter if they wish, but they don’t need to do so; it is a nice way of letting people know about the site and what we are doing.
With regard to my life away from White Dove Books, I expect it to significantly change, mainly as a result of my new lifestyle. For one thing, I intend to work a lot less, go to the beach more and take the dog (see Darcey’s Blog) on more long walks across Exmoor. Despite this, the site will actually receive more attention, not less. That’s because, as I mentioned above, I now don’t also have a day job to fit in. The plan is to dedicate the time that I would have worked in my old day job to the site and reclaim the time I worked on my site for other things including more recreation and leisure activity.
The change will also give me time to work on the house a little. We bought it a year ago and finally moved here when I gave up the day job a few months back.
As you can see, it is a 1936 house built in the Arts and Crafts style and, although it is already in very good condition for its age, nevertheless, it does need a bit of tlc. Next year, I will be working on the house and garden to transform it into the kind of home we want it to become.
Whatever your personal situation, I hope the new year will be a time of progress for you. If you are in that part of your life that asks you to be strong for those around you, if you need to exercise patience, if you need to learn how to love people you don’t like, my hope is that you will find the resources you need. All things pass and, if your life is presently difficult, this time will also pass. If you know what you want in life, you have set your goals correctly and you are committed to working on them everyday, then it is an absolute certainty that you will eventually achieve them.
Well, that’s about it for now. I would like to wish YOU a Happy New Year.
Hi Will, I’m in one of those ‘needing patience and strength’ periods so your hope that I find those resources is appreciated.
That’s a nice looking manor you’ve got there. Taking the dog on long walks across Exmoor sounds like a lovely pastime so I return the hope that you and the dog spend a lot of time there next year and gain plenty of relaxation, exercise and clarity.
Cheers!
Hi Roger
It’s really nice to see you here. If there’s any way I can help, just ask.
Cheers,
Will
P.S. Just signed up for your newsletter and bought your WSO.
Hi Will,
You help by having such a great website and providing inspiration for all of your readers and on top of that by just being a thoroughly decent, inspirational person.
An example of which is your actions in supporting my business by showing trust/faith in me by allowing me into your inbox and buying my product.
I hope that you gain a lot from doing so and that your trust in me is justified. Likewise, if there’s anything in the product that you need further assistance with, please just give me a shout.
I added your blog to my RSS reader recently so I will be paying attention and popping by a lot more often.
Cheers!
Hi Will, your inspiration letters are changing my attitudes and behaviour every day. I am learning to be positive and patient.
wishing you all the best