By Dawn Onley

Remember when you were a kid and your parents told you they would take you to get pizza, buy you an ice cream cone or some other delight, granted you were good, but you had to wait until a certain time or date to reap the reward? Remember the thrill and the tinge of excitement as you counted down the hours or days?

I remember when my parents would announce where we were going for summer vacation each year. My brother and sister and I would get so excited in the weeks and days leading up to vacation that we could hardly sleep. We would talk ad nauseum about all the things that we would do while away. The same was true when they told us we were going bowling or could have a friend over to play.

I still love that feeling, of looking forward to the little nuggets of joy in life. I think we ladies need to always have something we’re planning that makes us happy. Life can be challenging and draining, even overwhelming at times. We need to balance it with things that fill our cup.

So I strive to make sure I have plenty of things to look forward to throughout the year – big and small. I’m convinced that thinking about the things (which, by the way, are mostly experiences for me) makes me almost as excited as actually experiencing them.

Over the past two weekends, I binge watched the first two seasons of “Being Mary Jane” and I’m almost through with the first season of “How to Get Away with Murder.” It was something that I was looking forward to doing for quite a few months, and now I’m completely hooked on both.

This year, I’m going to see Hamilton on Broadway with a close girlfriend. I am so excited that I can hardly wait! Then there’s a trip to Greece with my 16-year-old niece, Maya, this summer. Every time we talk about it, she and I smile broadly, even laugh and hug like teenage girls (ok, she actually is a teenage girl, I’m just giddy like one). We are eagerly anticipating all that we will see and eat and experience and enjoy. In fact, my heart is beating really fast with excitement just typing this, and I’m smiling — all by myself this time — and it’s rather goofy. Don’t judge.

I will soon make plans to hook up with a childhood friend for drinks. I miss her and love that Facebook has put us back in touch. I’m almost finished my vision board for 2016. I’m a bit later than usual this year, but I’m making sure that I have everything on it that I want on it because I have dreams to catch and these things take time to plan.

I recently started reading Bishop T.D. Jakes’ latest book, “Destiny,” along with the study/application guide I got as a Christmas present, and it seems he has written this book directly to me. I’m highlighting every other paragraph in just utter frickin’ euphoria. I look forward to quiet time so I can continue reading it.

So, what are you planning that gets you excited to think about? What little joy nuggets do you have up your sleeve? If nothing yet, get to planning!

Life is grand.