Are you familiar with, instead of making a myriad of New Year’s resolutions, choosing just one word to define your coming year?
I’ve seen that idea around for a while – mostly on Facebook – and liked the general idea, but it never really struck a chord – not until a few weeks ago, anyway.
Truth be told, my little family and I had a pretty rough end to this year.
What may have looked like a whirlwind of exciting travel, and all-around fun times was really a deluge of things gone wrong and sadness. From accounts, and credit cards getting hacked, unexpected expenses, all the way to miscarrying our long-awaited baby.
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Unavoidable, painful stuff, but somewhere during it, I saw myself spiraling down to the same place I was as a teenager, when life, to put it bluntly, sucked.
Doing things because that’s what we do. Working as much as possible because that’s what we do. Not enjoying life because I was too busy just doing.
When I was a teen, there were a lot of reasons all joy was sucked out of life, which isn’t worth getting into, and thankfully, I can handle life situations a little more maturely now – at least, I hope I do.
But the point is, I saw traces of the person I used to be this Fall, the one who didn’t enjoy life, who saw the negative and very rarely the positive. I even started telling myself the same things I was told back then – you’re too fat, you’re no good at that, you aren’t smart enough, nobody likes you anyway. That kind of thing.
Back then, I survived through life.
Fortunately, I’ve come a long way, but sometimes, I still catch myself going down that road when life goes south – or frankly, sometimes when life just gets too busy.
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But this time, when it happened, I saw it, and I knew exactly what I wanted to focus in on this year – what I wanted my word for 2017 to be:
Thrive
That’s it. Thrive through life. Not survive, not get a certain number of things done, or attain a certain number on the scale.
To thrive.
- To watch the sunrise, and really take it in.
- To play with my kids – unplug, and really play with them.
- To go on adventures with my family, whether that’s just to the zoo or on camping trips (ahem, hopefully, both!)
- To plan my days based on what brings joy to my family rather than what seems to be pressing at the moment.
- To fill my mind with joyful things, which is so important as a mom because your kids will pick up on your cues!
- To get the most out of life – regardless of our circumstances.
- To take care of myself for real. I’ve been reading through Crystal Paine’s workbook for her new 15 Days To A Healthier You course, where she talks about finding which activities fill you up, versus what drains you.
That exercise was eye-opening for me, as was determining what is actually keeping me from taking care of myself. If knowledge is power, having a clear picture of what keeps me going will help give me the ability to really thrive this year. - I want to want to do whatever I do. That’s what it boils down to.
My one word for 2017 is really a goal, and that goal gives the rest of my goals direction. I can set goals for my monthly, daily, and weekly progress, but they will all point toward one thing – thriving through life.
I’m not delusional enough to think that every moment will be joyous or that everything – or even most things – will go my way, but it will be my mindset to intentionally do my best to thrive.
Other worse that could describe the thriving mindset are joyfulness, gratefulness, or an abundance mentality.
That’s what I want.
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