One of those stupid words...

Before the New Year was up I ran into one of Gretchen Rubin's posts on Facebook.The author of this book:

It was one of those, "Choose a word that represents you for the next year" posts. That one word then sets the tone for your New Year and the goals you want to achieve. Much easier than having a list of resolutions you may or may not keep, and then feel bad when you don't. She's not the first one to come up with the idea, but I like it.

My first thought was the word, HOPE. And I responded with that as my word. That's because I have a lot of HOPE that this year will be great. But after looking at the goals I want to accomplish this year, I changed my word to  COMPLETE. These are the 3 things I plan to do in my life this year relating to the word COMPLETE.

1. COMPLETE the projects I start. As I sit here right now I am looking at 5 picture frames in my front room that I have yet to put the pictures in. I have little projects like that all over that I start, and then lose momentum in finishing. It's a weakness of mine, but I'm working on it. So, FINISH things. Goal #1.

2. COMPLETEly understand the books I read. I normally tear through a book a week. I used books as my escape, as my entertainment, and not enough for my education. I wasn't retaining much of what I was reading. If you asked me what the main charcters names were, I probably couldn't tell you. I enjoyed the words, thoughts, ideas and stories, but I wasn't internalizing them enough to be able to have an intelligent conversation about it.

So this year, I will SLOW down on my reading, make notes in the books I read. Summarize thoughts, feelings and ideas as I come across them, sticky notes, notebooks, whatever it takes for me to REALLY appreciate a book. I want to REMEMBER more than just how I felt about the book.

This hasn't been going well for my reading so far though. I took a huge CS Lewis book on vacation with me, and I didn't read much because I thought I had to have a pen with me to write notes. So all the sudden book reading became really book studying. I lost the ability to just ENJOY it. At night I would look at a book on the nightstand and decide NOT to read it, because I don't feel like taking notes when what I really want to do is read myself into blissful sleep. So this will be a fine line I will have to face. Maybe I need to give myself permission to let go and just read for fun at least sometimes. Goal #2.

3. COMPLETE in my relationships. Not having to work has helped me invest more in my relationships with my family, especially with Ken. When I was being stretched too thin I had no time for anyone else, let alone myself. I plan to continue working on that, and becoming WHOLE in my relationships with those around me. Friends, family, strangers I meet. Never leave anything unfinished there either. Goal #3.

And that's it.

Wait, no it isn't. So, New Years Eve I asked the family to all choose a word they would like to focus on. Keilani's first response was SLEEP. Natasha's was CHOCOLATE and Vivian's was READ. Of course, their favorite things to do. I mentioned you have to have a goal around that, something positive. Vivian has now joined Goodreads so she can keep track of the books she has read. Don't ask me what the rest are going to do. Zane actually said something really profound like PRAY and Kalel, I'll have to come back and update you on that one when he's awake and I can ask him.

Ken, he just scoffed and said, "He doesn't do those things"  When I asked him why he said, "Because I make goals all year long, not just now." So yeah, this is one of those stupid word things in his book. But for me, it has helped me to keep focus and not forget. Like I said, easier to remember one word, then a bunch of goals. Try it, if you COULD pick one word, what would yours be?