Welcoming 2019 with Purpose and Commitment

You know, I just can’t believe we’re in 2019. I’ve always stated that the new year didn’t start until I had all of the January birthdays out of the way. I think this has been the first year that I really didn’t think about it or look at it that way.

Maybe it’s because the way we celebrate birthdays has changed so much over the last year or two or maybe it has more to do with how I’ve come to feel about a new year starting.

2019 brings in a lot of change.

• Three of my four children are adults now (legally anyway, they’ll never be fully grown as far as I’m concerned).
• Answers to my heart failure mystery have finally come.
• I’m getting the newest car I’ve ever owned.
• New ventures with friends.
• More family time.
• More clients.

And that’s just scratching the surface, I know that as the months roll out, new opportunities and plans will roll in. Though I typically don’t love change, I am pretty excited to see where it all goes.

Choosing the Word(s) for 2019

Heather of Domestic Extraordinaire shared a great video about choosing a word for your year. I watched the video and really loved how Lucrecer works through choosing her word for the year. I was all prepared to dig in and begin the process myself when I read this amazing post on Intentions from Andrea at Good Girl Gone Redneck and in an instant, I knew I had my word for the year.

As Lucrecer mentioned in the video, you choose your word of the year and then you choose “anchor words” that will support your word of the year.

So what word did I choose, you ask?

Purpose.

I love its meanings.  Purpose (n): something set up as an object or an end to be obtained. A subject under discussion or an action in course of execution. On Purpose :by intent: INTENTIONALLY

Purpose (v): to propose as an aim to oneself.

I had originally considered the word Intention, like in Andrea’s post but I decided I needed to dig deeper. I looked up synonyms for intention and discovered that while I liked the word, it didn’t quite fit what I was going for. I wanted a word that felt more solid. I want to be purposeful in this year. I want what I do to have meaning, to serve a purpose; whether that be to better my physical health, emotional health, or meet the business goals, I have – they all require execution. Completion. Purpose. I don’t want to achieve success on accident anymore (something I’m still oddly proud of), but rather be successful and achieve the goals I set. And be able to say “I meant to do that”.

My anchor words, action, stretch, and faith support and lift up my word of the year.

Action had been sitting on my heart for some time; I knew I wanted to be more active (physically), take action on the things aspects of my life, and be the person I know I am deep inside myself.

Faith is something that I have but never fully act upon like I know I can. Sometimes we need to put our faith in the things we cannot see, or even control. By building up my faith; both spiritually and in myself, I hope to gain a better sense of purpose in my life and in my work.

Stretch. This last anchor word I chose after all the others. I desperately want to stretch beyond my comfort zones this year. I want to stretch beyond what this blog currently is and grow my income. I can’t do that without being willing to try things I haven’t done before – and commit to them.

I know, this is a side of me that you didn’t see coming; that you maybe you never knew was inside of me. Very few people see that person anymore.

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this before but many years ago, 24 to be exact, I sat in a room and let someone say my head was in the clouds; that I didn’t look at the world with a realistic lens (I was too optimistic), and so I changed how I viewed people and the world around me. It turned me away from faith.

Many years later, a colleague told me that I was loud, that I needed to quiet myself and so I got quiet; I thought much more about the words I said before I said them; wrote them. Between those two people, I stopped being my authentic self (I know a very overused buzz word but it’s true). Over the last 24 years, I allowed people to tell me who I should be and what I should care about.

I used to be loud and I loved my rose colored glasses. I was funny, cheerful, and a complete goof. It affected everything from my marriage and motherhood, to career and passion. Yes, I was still a worrier (thanks grandma), but I didn’t let it bring me down or the people around me like I do now.

2017 and 2018 allowed me to really look at those aspects of myself and while I began the work, injecting some happiness back into my world; the job was far from done because I lacked the follow through.

I don’t want to wait another day to begin this year. I’m dusting off my rose colored glasses and getting down to business. With Purpose.

How are you welcoming in the new year?