I've never been one for the traditional New Years Resolution. Over the past 7 years I've developed my own system for "resolutions" and it's worked great for me. This will be the 3rd year in a row that I've picked One Word to focus on for the year, and the 7th year in a row that I've made a 101 Things list.
The idea of the One Word is to pick a one word theme for the year and then study it, integrate it, and use it to help you grow. It can be anything from Joy, to Health, to Love, to Peace, to Balance, to Clean, to whatever.
The idea of the 101 Things list is to have a running list of things you'd like to try or accomplish through the year, broken down into bite sized chunks. It has anything from try a new recipe, to read a business book, to fix my hair every day for a week. I never finish much more than half of the list, but the list isn't about finishing everything, it's about ideas and possibilities.
My One Word post went up on the Marquette LaRee blog this morning and the 101 Things post on Monday. With those words and items chosen, I've been thinking about this blog and what my hopes are for it for 2016. 2015 saw a lot of change, a lot of blank spaces, a lot of raw moments, and a lot of ideas go into the blog. And it's been very liberating and exciting, and I want to keep that up.
I thought about picking a separate One Word or making a separate 101 Things (or a shorter version) for this blog, but realized that wasn't necessary. I can use my One Word and the things on my 101 Things list to fuel my experiences for writing for this blog. I can use it to help me grow as a writer, a blogger, and a creative.
My One Word for 2016 is "Intentional". I've spread myself thin and that has affected how well I could blog, how engaged of a mother I've been, the kind of wife I've been to Cameron, my photography, and so much more. I tried to tread water and keep everything afloat with me. I'm realizing I have to let go of a few things. I have to be intentional with my time, my energy, my work. I have to be organized and have a plan.
And this all translates very well into this blog. There is so much that I'd like to do, so much that Em and I want to do together, with this blog. Thing to try, life to write about, ideas to share, project "fails" to laugh over, hard times to weather, and so much more.
So to be more intentional here on Pinstrosity, I've come up with a few steps to start things off with.
1. Instagram.
Any of you that follow Pinstrosity there has surely noticed the few and scattered posts here and there. We feel funny posting the same content on our accounts and on the Pinstrosity account, and trying to maintain a real persona when we've got two separate accounts just seems redundant and sometimes hard. So, rather than keep our accounts and the Pinstrosity account separate we're discontinuing the Pinstrosity Insta account and only posting on our personal insta accounts. We'll use #pinstrosity and #mypinstrositylife to keep all the Pinstrosity posts together. This is something we talked about doing at the beginning of the relaunch, but chickened out a little. But it's time to be more intentional with what we're doing.
Any of you that follow Pinstrosity there has surely noticed the few and scattered posts here and there. We feel funny posting the same content on our accounts and on the Pinstrosity account, and trying to maintain a real persona when we've got two separate accounts just seems redundant and sometimes hard. So, rather than keep our accounts and the Pinstrosity account separate we're discontinuing the Pinstrosity Insta account and only posting on our personal insta accounts. We'll use #pinstrosity and #mypinstrositylife to keep all the Pinstrosity posts together. This is something we talked about doing at the beginning of the relaunch, but chickened out a little. But it's time to be more intentional with what we're doing.
2. Show up.
I've been working on finding a schedule that works and a system that creates efficiency. I want to be here. When you can't depend on us to show up, there's not much point in coming. I get that. To be able to connect with you all, to be able to share fun content we find, and to be able to have any sort of impact we have to show up. This will look very different between Emilee and I as our schedules and lives are completely different. But we will show up and we will be here!
3. Plan.
So often I feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants with my posts. I want to have so much more planned out ahead of time so I can make it the best I can, and so I can get good content up, not just something to fill space. If I plan, then the posts will be better anyway because I'll have time to think them through.
4. Enjoy.
Building and maintaining a blog is a lot of hard work. I used to laugh when people would say that, but I understand now. It's a ton of work. Sometimes I let myself get bogged down in maintenance and "have-to" items that I forget how much I really enjoy this! I LOVE Pinstrosity. I love blogging. I love this community. If I will be more intentional with my time, my planning, and my posts I think I will enjoy it more!
So there's my plan to be a more intentional blogger. I'm breaking each part down into mini steps and ideas to try, but listing each of those will make this quite a long post. I'm really good at being long winded, as you all know. But I'll refrain a little today!
Do you do New Years Resolutions? Themes? One Words? 101 Lists? Any goals for 2016?
I get the whole resolutions thing and support anyone who makes them, and respect their process for living those changes they want to make in their lives.
ReplyDeleteI think that there is a period of years in everyone's lives when this is a good idea. It brings focus to where we want to go on our path and helps us to pay attention to what our life asks of us.
I like the polestar quality of choosing a single word or concept on which to target what I might want to make a priority in my life. If I had to choose one word, well, I do not think that I could. My one word would be, but only if someone puts a peashooter to my head, might be, could be acceptance, as in taking whatever comes for the gift that it is and to help me avoid judgement, any kind, any direction, any dimension.
I have never done any kind of 100 things, but I did do that 100 days project a few years ago. I seem to remember that thing starting up all over the place in 2011, but the group I joined was located in the UK. I chose the most difficult thing I could imagine, and it was to write something nice about myself every day. It nearly broke me, but I did it every day and I finished a hundred (give or take a few) days later.
All great stuff, but not for me this year.
No resolutions, and no regrets. It may not seem like they partner well, but they are, for me, the same process. A process that works for me, but most likely because I am so much older than when I thought that resolutions were a good idea, and when I believed that regrets served to help me make better choices and decisions. Now I understand that I am pretty much always giving the 'whatever' my best effort and that regretting something does not serve me or anyone else, although my best guess is that no one cares about any of my regrets. Or resolutions. Truly, this is a wonderful part of being in one's seventh decade. Nearly.
Anyway, thanks, Marquette, I guess I do have a word for this year. It feels like a good fit.