Every year, I like to shout out my personal intentions for the year. (Here’s last year’s, 2011′s, and 2010′s.) January is wonderful for that. We’re all stepping out of the holiday chaos, looking for routines, and bracing for the next couple months of dark and freezing weather.

This year feels like it’s going to be another busy one at the airport where we live.

I’m half excited and half exhausted just thinking about it! This hangar is going to take a lot of work to make it into a space that’s (1) functional (2) profitable (3) relaxing. We’re still not entirely sure of what our vision is for the space. We have dozens of ideas, and as time goes by, I’m confident that we’ll sort out a plan.

It’s going to be a test of patience. And sometimes, I am not good at being patient with something so huge.

So 2013, I’m declaring you the year of SLOW.

You aren’t necessarily a year for slowing down. (I’d be lying if I even tried that right now.) It’s just me, reminding myself to take deep breaths and remember that this journey isn’t a marathon. The starting gun can’t go bang, and then we run and run until we’re finished like we’re used to doing (like building a kitchen or learning to fly). This finish line is much further away.

It’s a few years away. And we’re not entirely sure what it looks like. All I know is that I need to lose this anxiety that I carry when I see the unfinished space. I need to feel comfortable with knowing that Martin and I need time – a lot of time – to make these things come together.

Jane wrote the perfect words  in this post: The list, in my head, of abandoned tasks is something that truly eats away at my happiness on a daily basis.

I don’t like that.

This year, I choose to make things happen one at a time.

I choose to celebrate what has been done and what is being done.

I choose to be the tortoise in this race, steady and one step at a time.

2013, I choose slow.

What do you choose in 2013?