This will be my third year participating in Ali Edwards’ One Little Word workshop and I’m excited to start fresh after a mediocre experience with my word last year. My word for 2017 had already settled in my head a couple weeks prior to the new year — which is exactly what happened with “enough” in 2015 — so I feel like it’s going to be one that really sticks around.
My word for 2017 is INTENTION. It can mean an “aim or a plan,” and that’s something that fits well with my goal-setting tendencies. But it can also mean “a determination to act in a certain way.” And that’s the definition that really began resonating with me last month. I spent a good portion of last fall feeling frustrated, tired, and generally scattered in all aspects — a fact that is somewhat well-documented here on the ol’ blog — and as December rolled around I was ready to be done with those feelings. Ready to shift my expectations. Ready for an attitude adjustment of sorts.
I know the changing of the calendar is arbitrary, but it’s also pretty effective for me. 2017 feels like a fresh start, and I’m concentrating on living and acting with intention. For me this means things like:
- Staying focused on my big picture goals, by reminding myself what I consider important
- Staying focused on small stuff too, by reducing multi-tasking and tackling one thing at a time
- Recognizing when I’ve fallen into “squirrel!” mode and consciously dialing it back
- Enjoying all down time, even the “unproductive” bits
- Cultivating relationships
- Cutting off negative trains of thought before they pick up too much steam
- Thinking about my time and my priorities before I commit
- Following through when I’ve said “yes”
- Staying firm (with myself) when I’ve say “no”
In the first 3 weeks of 2017, I’ve been using “intention” to guide a lot of my thoughts and actions. I’ve already noticed good things happening! My mood has improved, and that in turn seeps into other areas of my life. I often forget that my mood can also affect the overall mood of our entire household, and when I am calmer and more cheery, the whole family picks up on that.
Here’s to a year of life with intention!
(All of my OLW posts are here.)