It’s word of the year time again! Started in 2007 by Ali Edwards, the idea is to pick a single word to focus on during the coming year (you can read more about One Little Word on her site) My past words have been Do (2011), Reclaim (2012), Aproveitar (2013), and Strengthen (2014.) While my word last started off strong (no pun intended) by the end of the year I’d all but given up on heading to the gym, and my blog was becoming more important that my family relationships. That certainly wasn’t the direction I’d planned on taking! So I considered choosing the same word again, but it felt like something was missing.
A couple days ago the word “Intent” crossed my mind and hung out there for a while. Maybe what I needed was to be more mindful of how I’m living my days and spending my time.
The school class I was taking this semester had a lesson about time management and a discussion about the difference between just “spending” time and “investing” time. It really got me thinking. If I’m investing my time, something down the road with be increased. Playing LEGOs with my 6-year-old or cooking with my 10 year-old will give us chances to talk and will improve our relationships. Doing the mindless loop on my phone of Email-Facebook-Instagram-Email-Facebook…you get the picture, gets me nothing worthwhile.
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| by Thyme is Honey |
Taking some time for myself is still an investment too to help me be happier and healthier, but I think we can all tell the difference when we are relaxing or just wasting time. It has to have a purpose.
I’m going to print out that picture above and put it where I’ll be reminded to be more aware of what I’m doing. Am I slipping back into mindless, time-wasting habits or do I have an intent with what I’m doing? I have a couple of strategies I want to try that will help me with this that I’ll share in the next week or two.
Did you pick a word for your year? If you posted about it, you can link up at Sowdering About, or just go read what other people will be working on this year. I always love hearing about how people pick their word and how they plan on working it into their year.
