Hello and Happy New Year!

‘Tis the season of new year’s resolutions, goals, and words of the year! I wasn’t always a fan of new year resolutions. I would get frustrated when I couldn’t keep up with them. However, after many attempts and failures, I have come to realize it’s about failing forward. It’s okay to lose your streak. It’s okay to forget or take a break. It’s okay to start again, and again, and again. As the saying goes, progress is still progress no matter how small. Fail forward. Keep going. Eventually something will stick.

Last year, I quietly chose the word “grounded” and chose a symbol of a sunflower to represent that word. I worked on grounding myself in Christ by consistently spending quiet time reading my Bible and praying, establishing routines that would actually work for me and my family (still a work in progress but made headway), and worked on feeling more overall grounded and confident as a person. I love that I chose a sunflower as a symbol because it leads so perfectly into what I’m focusing on this year.

This year my focus word is “joy” and I chose a sun as the symbol.

To be honest, I wanted a more unique word, but at the end of the day, what I’m looking and praying for is pure and simple joy. Over the last couple years I have become more serious and stuck on worrying about worst case scenarios. I want to add more laughter and fun. I want to be grateful and enjoy my life, exactly as it is.

In thinking about joy I’m taking a more holistic approach and asking myself a lot of questions – is what am I thinking about positive and/or necessary? Am I managing my emotions or stuffing them? Is what I’m spending my time on the right choice? Am I taking enough care of my body and getting enough sleep, exercise, water, and nutrients? Am I spending quality time with Jesus?

In addition to considering those questions, I also plan to do the following:

~ Celebrate daily wins

For me, this means writing in my journal a couple minutes every day about what went well and things I’m proud of. This will help the end of the day by focusing on the positives of the day and not just the negative.

~ Keep a running thankful list

While I’m at work I like to write down things throughout my day that I am thankful for. This is especially helpful on the days that feel hard or stressful.

~ Laugh every day

Honestly, this shouldn’t be hard, but some days it just is. After a hard day the last thing I feel like doing is laughing, but life is so much better when we laugh! My kids laugh easily and I think it’s time I start laughing more with them.

~ Put my phone away and spend quality time with my family

One of the worst feelings is when I go to bed and realize how much time I spent on my phone instead of spending that time with my family. It is SO easy to get sucked into all the Facebook reels and lose track of time. I have a plan going forward to keep my phone in my purse after work until bedtime.

~ Spend time reading my Bible, praying and memorizing scripture

Joy is one of the fruits of the spirit and is not something I can gain within my own willpower. Honestly, this truth is really freeing. The more connected I am to Christ the more it will naturally flow from within me.

~ Give grace when things aren’t as I feel they should be

For as perfectly as things play out in my head, that is not the reality of how life actually is. I can get really hard on myself and I would like to remember to give myself (and others) grace when things don’t go as planned.

I hope your year is off to a wonderful start! I would love to know, do you have a new years resolution or word of the year? :)

Much Love,

Cami