Okay
people person reading this blog. It's a new year! Which means time for resolutions and taking control of our habits, good and bad. My tradition for the past 5 years is to choose a word which will define and guide my year. I like this tradition. I like setting goals, too. For me January's only redeeming quality is the opportunity to decide how this year will be better than the last, what I want to hopefully accomplish and what is there to look forward to throughout the year. BUT! My one word tradition is the icing on the cake. Goals come and go but my one word sticks with me in the back of my head, everyday, all year long. I think it's great and I love it.
My one word goal to increase my
spirituality last year was constantly on my mind. There was no way to escape it. Too tired to read my scriptures at night? "Spirituality" popped into my head. Too much going on Monday night to do FHE? "Spirituality" popped into my head. I give a lot of thought to my one word before I decide on it. I think Heavenly Father knows that and wants me to succeed in my positive endeavors. Maybe because I give it so much thought beforehand, there might be a tiny bit of inspiration in what I need to work on most throughout the year? And I'm grateful that He gives me opportunities to fulfill my goals. Last year was the most evident for me as I was trying to fulfill "spirituality". In August, I was called to be Primary President. Now... I doubt I was called to be Primary President because I WAS so spiritual. Yeah... no. More like... "Okay... poor Nicki's been working on her spirituality all year and she obviously can't handle this on her own, so lets help her out here." Being Primary President sealed the deal on becoming more spiritual, whether I wanted to or not.
And I'm glad that spirituality will extend into this year. Spirituality has now advanced to phase 2 in my life... I am now sustaining spirituality.
BUT! It is a new year and therefore time for a new word. This year, my word is
NOW. I am a future-oriented person and I like to feel prepared. I think that is a good thing. But, because I work so hard at that, sometimes the present gets ignored. And right now, a big part of my present is my children. So, I was thinking this year I wanted to spend more quality time with them. I want to get off the computer, get off my phone, get off my thoughts of planning and spend more time focusing on them. I've noticed that as my children are getting older, they are also becoming more complicated. Sometimes I feel like I don't even know my children. I don't want to miss opportunities to be there for them, to help them process their feelings and emotions and to get to know them better. Cory is already good at this. He has a ton of patience for spending time with them, teaching them, sharing information or interesting bits of knowledge with them. I admire that about their father. What lucky kids!
In the last couple of years, I have discovered something about myself. Thinking about my past makes me a tiny bit sad... because I miss it. I miss various years of my childhood... I miss some of my teenage years (well sort of)... I miss my young adult years... I miss my college years... I miss my BYU nursing years... I miss my newlywed days... I miss my new mom days... you get the point. I guess I'm lucky to have so many good memories in my past, but it more importantly proves to me that I should give more effort into enjoying these days as well because someday... you guessed it... I will miss these days, too! So, this is my challenge this year because I've reached a point in my life where I have more to do than enough hours in the day to accomplish everything which usually means I'm stressed. I find myself more stressed than pleasant. That doesn't lend itself well to enjoying the moment.
So, to wrap things up here... my goal this year is to find that balance between now and later. I already know that I can prepare for the future, but can I stop and enjoy the NOW, too? Wish me luck!
So... I really want to know, what is your word of the year? It's really quite simple, in fact I bet more than one word will pop into your head. The challenge is picking just one word to be your focus of the year. Please leave a comment and tell me!
