hello monday|one

**Edited to add: This post was originally posted on Monday night.  When I didn't see it post to my fb wall, I went back to check it and it was gone.  Ugh. After some work, I think I finally have it fixed.  Hopefully it's here to stay. =)  Anybody else having glitches with Blogger?

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I've been enjoying the "hello monday" posts that have been out in the blog-o-sphere and wanted to try it out! I have been waiting for the new year to roll around so that I could start fresh.  Then I almost missed it! Ha!  Not going to let the late start throw me off already.  So, better late than never.  By the way, I've mostly read the posts on Lee's blog, but I believe it may have originated on Lisa Leonard's blog.

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hello first monday of the year.  I am truly looking forward to new beginnings this year like never before.
hello Olivia's Mexican Restaurant. My husband and I went out for a quick lunch and when he asked where I wanted to go, I responded "Somewhere yummy and fun."  This made us both laugh so much. I don't know why in the world I said it like that, but now it's going to stick. I just know it. Anyway, he took me to a little Mexican cuisine place that was recommended to him.  It turned out to be very good.  I enjoyed the Chile Relleno and Taco combo plate.  It was yummy AND we had fun. We always do. :)
hello normal routine.  The kids all returned to school today and are back on regular schedule.  Hannah has a water polo game at least 4 days out of the 7 this week. Taryn has different club meetings and the little ones were already loaded down with lots of reading and homework for the week. Marco and I have all of our regular responsibilities too. Yep. Back to "normal".
hello new OneLittleWord. My new word to focus on this year is minimize. I've already found myself conscientiously saying "no" to all the To Do lists in my head.  I have found that when I can say no to it "all", I can start truly saying YES to what's really important.

hello to real joy.  It's high time I got back to doing things that bring me real joy. Not just that feeling of satisfaction because I didn't disappoint someone or knowing I met others' expectations.  That's too much.  A very good friend of mine recently shared this statement with me, "I keep trying to remind myself that if something is making me feel anxiety, it probably needs to not be given any of my time or energy. "
Normally, I would not allow myself the LUXURY of feeling that way about something - but the new me is going to accept it 'cause I know I need to change my thinking.

So there you go. hello monday and new beginnings.

“I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was. Likewise, I never imagined that home might be something I would miss.” 

― Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

New Year, New One Little Word...

So, I got my Christmas decorations put away yesterday - finally.  I love how the house feels after it's all cleared out.  Don't get me wrong, a few weeks ago I was excited about getting my house all decked out with Christmas decorations, but things were starting to feel crowded.  Now that the front room is all cleared out and organized, I feel inspired to get the rest of the house de-cluttered.
By this time every year, I usually have my One Little Word chosen.  Instead of making "New Year's Resolutions" that are sure to be broken by January 9th, I choose a word that serves kind of as a "theme"...a word I can think about daily to focus on throughout the year.
Words that I've chosen in the past are:

FOCUS

TRUE

JOURNEY

DO

This year I began thinking about my word around Christmas.  I started thinking about my year and all that has happened...good and bad.  I looked through my blog and read about my past words.  My husband chooses a theme for the church every year and this year he chose "I believe".  At first I thought that my word would also be "Believe" because I have so many reasons to really BELIEVE this year.  Then I thought that it might be EMBRACE because I really need to embrace who I am, where I am, etc.  As I pondered my word, I realized that my words always seemed to be about me doing more, wanting more, seeking more...  I almost feel like my word for the year should be SNOOZE or NAP because to be honest, I am tired.  Not always physically tired, although that is true a lot of the time too, but I just felt so WEARY this last year.  So many things that happened that just wore me out.  

I am the type of person that is always on the go and even when I am taking a "break" I fill it with things to do.  I love making lists and crossing things off.  I am the type of person that makes a big deal out of a lot of basic things. I have a hard time keeping things simple.  I rarely can do anything spontaneous because I have so many things lined up in my head that I don't have "time" to just do or be.  My friends and I have even joked that it's a sickness.  I am not so sure that it's funny anymore - it's getting kind of serious really.

Well, as I struggled with the choosing of my word - I was making a big deal about it - I mean, come on! It's going to be my word for the whole year.  I realized that even this simple action was causing me unnecessary stress.  Then it hit me.  MINIMIZE.  minimize.  I needed to minimize!!  Wait...is that what I want to do?  Let me look it up on freedictionary.com:

min·i·mize  (mn-mz)

tr.v. min·i·mized, min·i·miz·ing, min·i·miz·es

1.

a. To reduce to the smallest possible amount, extent, size, or degree.

b. Usage Problem To reduce. See Usage Note at minimal.

2. To represent as having the least degree of importance, value, or size: minimized the magnitude of the crisis.

Hmmmm...  I think this is it!  There are so many things that need to be minimized.  Just some things that come to mind:

worry

clutter

stress

weight

self-doubt

projects

This is just a start, but I really like this.  Yes, I will still focus and do, but I really want to focus on keeping things simple.  I want to really minimize some fears that I am holding on to. But can I do this?  Is this like setting myself up to fail? Like the dreaded resolutions?  I think the obvious answer is yes.  I must.

So, I would like to announce that my One Little Word for 2013 is minimize. 

Did you choose a word?  What is it?  Feel free to leave a link or your word in the comments!

My One Little Word for 2012...

My One Little Word from the last three years

Inspired by Ali Edwards, this is my fourth year choosing one little word as a "guiding" word for the year. I have long since given up on making new year's resolutions.  It always seemed like it was a sure way to fail.  By choosing one word that I can reflect on throughout the year as a guide word would be more realistic.  Words that I've chosen in the past are FOCUS, TRUE and JOURNEY.
My word last year was JOURNEY.  I wanted to be more aware of this journey - my life.  I needed to be more aware of what was going on during the journey not just working my way to the finish line as fast and as best as I could.  I didn't want my life to be about performance or expectations.  Well, 2011 certainly was quite the journey.  There were plenty of ups and downs along with many learning opportunities.  There was heartache as well as joy and happiness.  Overall, I can say that God continued to bless and I ended the year better than I started it.
This year my chosen word is indeed a little word.  Just two letters.  DO.  That is my word.  As I looked back on my words from past years, it seemed like DO was naturally the next thing to choose.  I needed to FOCUS on the things that were most important, I needed to be TRUE, authentic, and to surround myself with authenticity, I needed to be present on the JOURNEY, to experience, learn from, enjoy and appreciate all I encountered.  Now, it's time to DO.  Time to get down to business.  There are many areas in which I need to DO.  Here are some that come to mind:

Physically

Spiritually

Mentally

Creatively

Financially

Responsibly

Those may not make sense to you right now, but in the next few days I will lay out my plan.  For now, I just know that I have plenty I want to DO - However, this is nothing new.  I am very active, always busy, always doing...but in the DOing, this year I want to get many things DOne.  This is where 2012 is going to be different than all other years past.
Won't you join me in choosing a word to help guide your year?  Share your word in the comments or leave a link to your blog (of course you don't have to be a blogger to participate).

 Here's my ATC card for this year's word: DO