The Bright Side

OF MOTHERHOOD

Word Up – What’s Your Word For 2016?

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New Year’s Resolutions are great – I guess. I honestly can’t remember the last time I created a New Year’s Resolution. I guess they’d be similar to setting goals for yourself, which I use to do when I had time to actually think and not just react.

Instead of resolutions, I like to assign one special word to my new year. A word I can lean into, pray through and rise up to. A word I may not always feel in the moment, but it’s a word I can grow into. It permeates my thoughts, my days and weeks and calls out to me when I’m off track.

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I’m keeping it simple this year. I’m using the same word I used last year – JOY. I want more Joy in my life. It’s not about a fake happiness or always being joyful. For me it’s more about a satisfied, content spirit deep in the center of my being. My joy can’t be contingent on my circumstances, or day-to-day life. If that were the case, I’d be just as up and down as my days are. True joy has to come from a place of peace and contentment. It’s not fabricated. For me – that place is in my relationship with God. Without His power and work in my life, I’m pretty hopeless. I’m not there yet – full of Joy, but I’m on my way. It’s a day-to-day, moment-by-moment exercise with deep rooted results.

So what word represents your new year? When you get to the end of 2016, what do you hope you have more of in your life? Here are a few words to think on …Energy, Love, Fun, Creative, New, Balance, Refresh, Impact, Peace, Truth, Travel, Unplugged, Serve, Persevere, Live, Simplicity, Grace.

Once you land on a word, do something about it. Don’t just think it up and then go on with your life. Put it on the forefront of your day. Example – I’ve got a Joy ornament hanging on my bulletin board. I’ve been known to trace the word joy on my shower glass door when I need a reminder. I have a journal my friend gave me with the word Joy on the cover. For Christmas, I even bought one of those popular metal word art decorations that lights up. It says JOY. I decided not to pack it away with the other Christmas decorations, but I will keep it out as a reminder. So not only do I see this word in my daily life, but it also reminds me to do things which bring me joy – exercise, play tennis, go on dates with my husband, play board games with my kids, have a girls weekend with my friends, grab a coffee. You get the idea. A word is only as good as you make it.

Decide today what word resonates with you and points you in the direction you want to go. Then – get going and see where the word leads. And if you wouldn’t mind, share your word with the rest of us. You might inspire someone else with your word.

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Screw Perfection

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Perfection

Perfectionism, or the need to do something perfectly, has prevented me from starting this blog. I’ve had this blog floating in the internet stratosphere for more than two years. Floating – empty, ignored and desperate for content.

Do you know why it took me two years? Because I was afraid.

I was afraid my writing wouldn’t be perfect, or the images I would use wouldn’t be perfect. That I couldn’t launch it perfectly. You see, I think I might be a perfectionist and that kind of stinks. When you have four kids, or even one for that matter, you can’t always be perfect. And oh how hard we try! It’s exhausting! As a mom of four kids, I’ve worn myself out trying to be perfect and keep up, not necessarily with other moms, but more often just trying to keep up with myself and all the things I want to accomplish in this short life. I want to be more than a mom. Don’t get me wrong. I love my kids and I’m grateful to be a mom, but it doesn’t define all of me. I want to be a writer, maybe even a public speaker, and I don’t want to wait until that perfect “some day” to make a dent into my own dreams. But the need for perfection squashes many people’s dreams, and my desire for it has certainly stalled my own personal blog.

So what better way to check off a New Year’s Resolution than to sit down and do it. So here I am. I’m posting my first blog. It’s not perfect. I don’t have advice to give, or resources to share, or links to send you to. I barely have any content. But, hey, it’s a start and that’s all we have to do sometimes — just start. Or as G.K. Chesterton puts it, “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.”

In 2016, let’s do what’s worth doing and do the best we can. Don’t let perfectionism lead you down a rabbit hole of procrastination. There’s nothing perfect about doing absolutely nothing. Here’s to a great year of doing absolutely everything!