Have you ever felt like you could see the shore but couldn't quite reach it no matter how hard you tried. Well, that was my entire 2013. I have written 2 different "New Year New Me" posts and promptly deleted them because well to be honest I felt like a sham. Looking back on 2013 I have had plenty of great family memories but also a lot of moments where I just felt busy.
Busy is an awful word. To me it means time filled with tasks and not tasks that necessarily mattered nor did I feel any sense of accomplishment completing them. Busy isn't healthy. Busy isn't being happy. I really do not want to look back on my life and say well I was... busy.
Now at this point you might be thinking I have said busy so often that busy doesn't even sound like a word anymore. If you did then my plan worked! Mwahaha! (and if you didn't just play along) My goal for 2014 is to not have busy as a part of my vocabulary. This doesn't mean that I won't have plenty of items to finish around the house, loved ones to snuggle, or projects to complete at work. This means that I am making an effort to live in each moment. To soak in each minute and appreciate the life I have been blessed. I have been incorporating this into my life for the last week and I have to say I am digging it.
Here's some things I have noticed
1. It's hard to really appreciate moments doing laundry. However, I do find myself focusing on the blessings in my life as I fold. For instance the tiny pants that adorn my sunshine's happy booty, the athletic pants I should wear more (and actually be athletic in), or my husband's team polo and the pride he has in his work. It's appreciating the small moments and giving yourself a quiet moment to reflect that really make a difference in your overall outlook.
2. I have tried to ask myself "is what I am doing helping me reach my goals." Originally, for my resolution I thought that deleting all social media apps would help me better allocate my time. I found for myself that this had the reverse effect. I was spending more time thinking about how I didn't have them anymore and it was probably more time thinking about them than I ever spent on them in the first place. I added them back and now I am more intentional with the time spent. If I need a few minutes to mindlessly unwind then that's ok but that unwinding shouldn't interfere with the goals I have to complete for the evening.
3. Being more intentional has actually allowed for more spontaneous creative moments with my son then I ever thought I had time for before. I don't worry about completing every household chore before I play with him. As I have noticed all too quickly time with our children is precious and they are only going to be this age once. We have painted, put on a finger puppet play, and played chase to our hearts content. Since I have put more time in play we both seem to be sleeping better and hey who doesn't like sleep?!?
With any resolution the challenge is to actually stick to it and make it a habit. I am going for a lifestyle change with this one because I only get one 2014 and this time next year I would like to have a vibrant vocabulary to describe it.
