It's January 1st. A fresh new year. I love today. Anything is possible. The first thing I want to say to you is Happy New Year. I hope your year is full of love and belly laughter. What could be better?
For the last three years I have chosen words instead of resolutions to apply to my year. In 2016 my word was "experience". And it was a year I never want to experience again. It was God awful and not quite what I had in mind for the word. Then I decided that I was going to happen to life instead of the other way around. Enough with the drama.
2017 my word was "Divalicious!" and it was. Delicious in every way. if you would like to know my definition of Divlalicious check out my blog post here
MY 2018 WORD IS "HONOUR".
When I was reflecting on 2017 I felt proud of myself for what I had accomplished. I also realized due to my laser focus on specific goals that other areas of my life had fallen short. It was to be expected and I’m not going to beat myself up for it. I did what I had to do to achieve my goal. But now that I do not have something as momentous as writing and recording an album to do, I can spread my focus.
During my annual reflection I looked over past planners – seeing what I had done, what I hadn’t. Two things jumped out at me. First, I had accomplished many goals listed in past planners. Wahoo! Pat myself on the back. But there was one theme that had been written in each year. Posted in the monthly reflections. An area that I had fallen short in for the past three years. THREE YEARS! I repeated the same thing over and over and over in one way or another. It stood there glaring at me. Daring me to acknowledge it.
Part of what I now do when I reflect the year is ask myself some questions. One of the questions is “If I could do one thing that would make me proud of myself what would that be?“. Plush Red Chair was my one thing last year. I am so proud of it and all it represents. How can I top that? Awards? They would be lovely. Loads of sales? That would make me happy too. But what would make me proud? Proud of my work. Something that takes effort on my part. My mind went back to my old planners. The one thing that has haunted me for the past three years. My health. Yes. My health. I imagined myself writing a blog at the end of 2018 saying I did it. I have my health back and under control. I feel great. Would that top everything else? Would that feel as good as releasing Plush Red Chair? Yes. Yes it would. I had my one thing.
Then I thought more. I don’t want to drop my dreams. I’ve worked too hard. I would like my health to be my main focus this coming year, but I don't want to lose out on other areas of my life. I have to honour who I am. All of me. And that’s when it hit me. Honour. Honour myself. When I honour myself I honour every aspect of me. My dreams. My relationships. My sense of adventure. My craft. My body. Honour. It’s a great word and its my word for 2018.
I've heard of Vision Boards, but I've never actually put one together. They always seemed out there to me. A little bit Twilight Zone. My thinking has changed over the years. Our thought process has a lot to do with our end result. I'm a firm believer in that now. So, I thought I should make a Vision Board for 2018. I'm not one to purchase a lot of magazines, and then I'd have to buy glue and ... it all seemed too much work. And my Vision Board idea lost its appeal. Then someone suggested Pinterest. What a great idea! Pinterest! I could look for images that spoke to me and my dreams. Put them together in a collage. That's fun. And then have it printed off like a poster. Lord knows I've had enough posters printed. I can handle that.
Putting my Vision Board together was a big part of discovering my word for 2018. Honour.. The first picture I found was of the little girl singing into the hair brush. If ever there was a picture that described me, it is that picture. I am that little girl. Standing on the bed. Singing at the top of my lungs to my imaginary audience. The pure joy of performing. I wrote honour me. Meaning to honour my dream. Who knew it would turn into my theme for the year? I love this Vision Board. My heart gets excited when I look at it. The broad ideas. Nothing too specific. I love that. Adventure. Love. Travel. Health. Singing. Goals. Performance. Abundance. Joy. Time with friends. Family. It's all in there when I look at it. And it's all wrapped up in the word honour.
I can’t wait to see what 2018 has in store. My focus is going to be on my health, but I will choose to honour all aspects of my life. And I hope at the end of 2018 I can write that blog post that says “I did it. I said I would and I did. My health is under control. My career has ….. I had great adventures. I .... My year was truly a year of honouring myself. ”
So, what about you? Are you a Resolutions type of person or do you have a yearly word? Or perhaps you like to see what unfolds naturally. I'd love to hear how you approach a new year.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
~ Cayla
PS: Do you have a word to apply to your year? I’d love to hear it if you do.