As those of you know who have been reading the Wow for awhile, each year I pick a theme.

This year’s theme comes to you via my dearly beloved, recently departed Aunt Frances who, whenever someone made the decision not to follow her suggestion but instead exercise their own right to choose, would say,

“Suit yourself.”

“Suit yourself “????

Growing up, the idea of suiting yourself was anathema in our household. Aside from my sister (bless her heart) my family was, as the saying goes, “All Chiefs and no Indians”. Everyone knew best, everyone weighed in, and everyone would argue with you—sometimes just for the sake of arguing.

And while I would have loved to believe I wasn’t continuing this tradition in my adulthood, my husband has been known to say that the title of his autobiography was going to be, “My Wife: She has a Better Idea.”

But I think (I hope) something changed for me when I got sick this autumn. What I discovered (shockingly enough) was that everyone and everything was able to function perfectly well without my input. And while not every choice that was made was the one I would have made, at the end of the day most of it didn’t matter.

What this allowed me to do while I was ill was to focus on becoming healthier. What I hope it will allow me to do if I am able to continue to allow others to “suit themselves” in 2017 is to is free me up to focus my energy on any number of plans and projects that have the potential to improve my new year.

If any of this sounds familiar to you I invite you to invite others to “suit themselves” this New Year, thereby freeing you up to make your own hopes, plans and dreams come true.