It’s been 17 days since I last blogged, and I needed every bit of the unplanned vacation I took from social media. It was nice to step back and not check Twitter, Facebook or my blog reader obsessively for two weeks. It helped clear my mind some and gave me a chance to totally focus on the family, friends and work that have occupied my time of late. And even though I’m back to using social media, I’m not using it as much — and I like that.

It’s the last day of 2010, and I’m not sad to see it go. Sure, it was the year I got engaged and bought another house. A few other, smaller good things have happened too, but for the most part my life was completely, utterly and totally out of balance this year, and not in a good way. There was way too much of work and stress in my life this year. A lot of that I couldn’t control, but some of it I could have balanced out by making a better effort to take care of my body and my emotions.

A year ago, my friend Noodles inspired me to choose a word of inspiration that would dictate my 2010. My word was kindness, as in treating others and myself more kindly. I’ve gotten a few lessons and practice in kindness this year, though maybe not enough to live up to my 2010 mantra. Still, I’m going to try another word this year on the off chance it will work better (and I’ll probably make a few resolutions while I’m at it).

I used to pride myself on the balance I had in my life between work and play and relationships and responsibility and everything in between. Balance was my middle name. Obviously that wasn’t the case this past year, so balance is shifting from my middle name to my word of 2011. I’m going to work to keep my ch’i from sloshing around too much or leaking all over the floor. When work gets to be too much, I will go for a run. When I get lazy, I will do work. When I’m feeling out of sorts, I will take a moment to breathe and be still. That social media vacation and my current jogging routine is a good jump start on practicing better balance.

Judging by what my friends have had to say, 2010 wasn’t much a good year for them either, so I’m also going to ask everyone a favor as you get started kicking 2011’s ass. Please put some good karma out into the universe right now, whether it’s with some friendly words, a random act of kindness or just happy thoughts. There’s a lot of us who are yearning for a better year, and if we all send some good vibes to the universe, maybe we’ll get started on the right foot.

Happy New Year.