I have always been someone that loves the beginning of a new year. I look at January 1st, and often the beginning of a new school year in late August as a fresh start. I like to clean, organize, declutter, reevaluate, simplify, plan, and set new goals. I'm not necessarily someone that comes up with a "resolution," but instead looks at areas to improve my life, my routine, my habits, and my vision. It's a good time to reflect on the year, what worked and what didn't work, focus on accomplishments, focus on the theme of the year, focus on preserving meaningful memories, and decide how to best move forward.
2019 was a great year for me and my family. I experienced an enormous amount of growth as a person, ran 2 half marathons, wrote my first book that I hope to publish soon, established a consistent early morning routine, read 18 books, and attended my 1st personal growth conference. We traveled to 4 different states as a family, attended our 1st big music concert (MercyMe), attended our 1st big broadway musical as a family (Hamilton), went to our 1st horse race (Arkansas Derby), and enjoyed lots of other meaningful memories as a family.
Maybe your year didn't go as planned, goals weren't accomplished, unexpected events got in the way, other things required more of your attention, you experienced failure as you tried to pursue your dream, and that's okay. What's important is that you made it through and you have another day and another year to pursue the person you hope to be. Some years and some seasons are tough. What's important is that you are moving forward.
The beginning of a new year is a great time to decide what really matters. What good things do you need to fill your cup with in order to spill out to others? What routine, habits, and standards will allow you to be the very best version of yourself? How are you going to set yourself up for success? How will you be intentional in the way you live your life, serve others, and pursue your dreams?
What I have learned over the years is that I can not be all things to all people all the time, but I can be present and really good exactly where I am. When I am at work, my focus is on being the health care provider that each patient needs. When I am with my girls, I strive to be present, be a listener and encourager, a giver of affection, and show them in many ways that they are seen, heard and loved more than they know. When I am with my husband, I strive to be a good wife. During my early morning hours, I give full attention to taking care of myself through journaling, devotion, exercise, and writing. I am at my best when I am pouring into myself. When my cup is filled up with good stuff on a regular basis, I have plenty to pour into others. I am happier, more fulfilled and just more positive in general. Lots of people and things depend on me to be at my best. Therefore, my own physical, spiritual, and emotional health is a priority, and it should be for you too!
Take some time to reflect on what really matters. Look back on the last year or even the last decade and decide how you wish to go forward. What routines, habits, and standards do you wish to have as you plan out your year? Is there a word you'd like to focus on as you pursue this best version of yourself? Are there certain goals you'd like to accomplish? How will you go about pursuing and accomplishing these goals? How will you make time for yourself? If you fail to plan, you plan to fail, so let's get planning!
This year I took time to make my 1st vision board. I did this activity with my kids and each of us created a poster board with words and pictures that helped create our vision for 2020. I have goals of running my 3rd marathon in honor of my 40th birthday, publishing my 1st book and writing a 2nd book this year, doing a better job of meal planning and nourishing my body with healthy foods, growing my knowledge by reading more books, growing my faith, growing my marriage and making date nights a priority, traveling, and stepping outside my comfort zone.
I also took time to do some vision mapping in my @ Rachel Hollis @Start Today Journal. I decided on my top 10 visions for 2020 and focused on how I might achieve those visions for myself. For example, IF I want my life to glorify God, IF I want to be faith-filled, THEN I need to be including Bible reading, prayer, morning devotional time, christian music, scripture writing, serving in the nursery at church, and serving in my community as goals. Another example is IF I want to be a patient, loving, present Mom, THEN I need to spend one-on-one time with each girl on a regular basis, have excellent communication with them, spend time doing fun activities together, not be on my phone when I am with them, be positive, and lead by example.
If we are not intentional about how we live each day, each year, each decade, our lives will literally just pass us by. We will wonder where the years went, why we didn't make time for having fun with our kids, why we didn't travel the country and see the world, why we didn't make dating our spouse a priority, why we didn't write the book, run the marathon, go back to school, take the art class, change jobs, go on the trip with our friends, join a small group at church, go to the concert... These things don't just happen. You have to take intentional steps in the right direction to make these things become a reality. Be intentional with your time. We get this one life, this one body, this one opportunity. How will you use it?
2019 was a great year for me and my family. I experienced an enormous amount of growth as a person, ran 2 half marathons, wrote my first book that I hope to publish soon, established a consistent early morning routine, read 18 books, and attended my 1st personal growth conference. We traveled to 4 different states as a family, attended our 1st big music concert (MercyMe), attended our 1st big broadway musical as a family (Hamilton), went to our 1st horse race (Arkansas Derby), and enjoyed lots of other meaningful memories as a family.
Maybe your year didn't go as planned, goals weren't accomplished, unexpected events got in the way, other things required more of your attention, you experienced failure as you tried to pursue your dream, and that's okay. What's important is that you made it through and you have another day and another year to pursue the person you hope to be. Some years and some seasons are tough. What's important is that you are moving forward.
The beginning of a new year is a great time to decide what really matters. What good things do you need to fill your cup with in order to spill out to others? What routine, habits, and standards will allow you to be the very best version of yourself? How are you going to set yourself up for success? How will you be intentional in the way you live your life, serve others, and pursue your dreams?
What I have learned over the years is that I can not be all things to all people all the time, but I can be present and really good exactly where I am. When I am at work, my focus is on being the health care provider that each patient needs. When I am with my girls, I strive to be present, be a listener and encourager, a giver of affection, and show them in many ways that they are seen, heard and loved more than they know. When I am with my husband, I strive to be a good wife. During my early morning hours, I give full attention to taking care of myself through journaling, devotion, exercise, and writing. I am at my best when I am pouring into myself. When my cup is filled up with good stuff on a regular basis, I have plenty to pour into others. I am happier, more fulfilled and just more positive in general. Lots of people and things depend on me to be at my best. Therefore, my own physical, spiritual, and emotional health is a priority, and it should be for you too!
Take some time to reflect on what really matters. Look back on the last year or even the last decade and decide how you wish to go forward. What routines, habits, and standards do you wish to have as you plan out your year? Is there a word you'd like to focus on as you pursue this best version of yourself? Are there certain goals you'd like to accomplish? How will you go about pursuing and accomplishing these goals? How will you make time for yourself? If you fail to plan, you plan to fail, so let's get planning!
This year I took time to make my 1st vision board. I did this activity with my kids and each of us created a poster board with words and pictures that helped create our vision for 2020. I have goals of running my 3rd marathon in honor of my 40th birthday, publishing my 1st book and writing a 2nd book this year, doing a better job of meal planning and nourishing my body with healthy foods, growing my knowledge by reading more books, growing my faith, growing my marriage and making date nights a priority, traveling, and stepping outside my comfort zone.
I also took time to do some vision mapping in my @ Rachel Hollis @Start Today Journal. I decided on my top 10 visions for 2020 and focused on how I might achieve those visions for myself. For example, IF I want my life to glorify God, IF I want to be faith-filled, THEN I need to be including Bible reading, prayer, morning devotional time, christian music, scripture writing, serving in the nursery at church, and serving in my community as goals. Another example is IF I want to be a patient, loving, present Mom, THEN I need to spend one-on-one time with each girl on a regular basis, have excellent communication with them, spend time doing fun activities together, not be on my phone when I am with them, be positive, and lead by example.
If we are not intentional about how we live each day, each year, each decade, our lives will literally just pass us by. We will wonder where the years went, why we didn't make time for having fun with our kids, why we didn't travel the country and see the world, why we didn't make dating our spouse a priority, why we didn't write the book, run the marathon, go back to school, take the art class, change jobs, go on the trip with our friends, join a small group at church, go to the concert... These things don't just happen. You have to take intentional steps in the right direction to make these things become a reality. Be intentional with your time. We get this one life, this one body, this one opportunity. How will you use it?
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