Was it stress or a hot flash.....

She pulled out her day planner, dreading what she would see. Important meetings and events, and places she would have to be. On time. And ready to do the tasks required at that time and place.

As she reviewed everything and every place she would have to be, and the people who would be depending on her, her heart started to beat faster and her palms started to get clammy. A wave of heat & sweat started to wash over her body, she wondered if it was the stress she was feeling or a hot flash. As she proceeded to turn down the air conditioning; she remembered her word she had chosen to focus on.

It was a new concept she had just learned about and figured she would give it a try. "I mean, what do I have to loose," she thought. "If it doesn't work, it doesn't work." It would be no worse than all the New Year's Resolutions she had made & never kept.

She turned to the page in her day planner she had decorated with her word. On it she had written how she wanted to use it to change the way she thought about the overwhelm she sometimes felt when her calendar was more full than normal.

She had used rubber stamps to stamp her favorite images and quotes and used markers to add color. She even pulled out her favorite rolls of washi tape. The ones with copper dots and stripes. "What was she saving it for anyways," she thought.

There at the top of the page was her word, EMBRACE. Under it she wrote, "...change with ease ...the chaos with peace ...the fullness of my calendar with peace and a sense of adventure"

As she read those words she remembered all the times her calendar had been full and how, every time, she had managed to pull off what seemed like the impossible.

She turned back to the upcoming week with a new sense of resolve, a new peace and as she read where she needed to be and when, she repeated her word, "embrace" and she was ready, once again, to face the the week, month and year ahead of her.

So, How Long Did Yours Last?

Was it longer than 7:30am on New Years Day?

Someone bravely posted on Facebook that she had already broken her New Year's Resolution and it was only 7:30am on New Years Day. What was her broken resolution? She didn't say, but I can only imagined it might have been...

• she was going to start a new diet
• she wanted to swear less like a sailor and more like a lady
• she was going to yell less at her children
• it might have even been, not to look at her phone first thing in the morning

I'm sure you can imagine a few she might have broken at 7:30 in the morning.

And this is why I don't like the traditional New Year's Resolutions. They're too specific, they're too ridged. They tell what we HAVE to do, and let's face it we don't like doing what we HAVE to do. 

Raise your hand if you drive around when the gauge is on Empty and the light shines bright  telling you "It's time to put gas in your car or else!" because you'd rather do anything else than go do something you HAVE to do. We rebel a little, internally saying "gas gauge, you're not the boss of me, you can't tell me what to do!" until it does, when it refuses to go any further because it doesn't have the fuel it needs, because you refused to get more.

Change is hard enough, let's not make it harder by telling ourselves what we HAVE to do. Let's make it more doable, more fun. More forgiving.

This year, choose a word that will embody what you would like to change. 

Instead of,  "I want to loose 15 pounds" maybe you choose Healthy. Or look back at the last year to see why you may not be eating healthy; was it because you worked so much more that you didn't have time for healthy eating, so your word might be Balance. You want to strive to have more work-life balance.

But just as important as it is that you choose a word, so is having it in a place that reminds you of it.

Make your own reminder on a token that can be worn or hung in a place to remind you of your intention for the year.

Word of the Year Workshop

Sunday, January 26, 2020

1:00pm - 4:00pm

It will be held at:

TBT Real Estate

108 This Way, Lake Jackson, TX 

Options available are: Bracelet, Necklace, Key Chain, or make your own Bookmarker or Rear View Mirror Hanging Charm 

To register online and save your seat, click here.

During this workshop you will also get a journal to document your process for choosing your word and how the year is going with your word. The wonderful thing about this process is sometimes you find, the word you initially chose is not working, and that's ok. We will have another workshop in May and you can choose another word or keep the one you have.

During the May workshop we will create a different project. I'm thinking something to hang on the wall, or sit on your desk. 

I look forward to seeing you on January 26th as you discover the word you want and start the year fresh, because it doesn't have to be on January 1st, it can be anytime of the year you decide.

New Year's Resolutions....

and why they fail.

I've never been one to set New Year's resolutions, we never did it in our family, the first time I heard that it was a "thing" was when I was an adult. There were a few years I set one, but never followed through because I wasn't serious about the resolution or the setting of it, therefore never even tried to keep it. It just seemed like the thing to do; what everyone was doing, so it must be a good thing, right? I know, I know, if everyone jumped off a bridge, would I?

A couple of years ago I came across an exercise, kind of like a New Year's resolution but instead it was choosing a word for the year to focus on. A word that would set my intention of what or who I wanted to be, or what I wanted to accomplish. I was intrigued, I halfheartedly went through the process of selecting my word, wrote it down in my journal, and moved on. Never to see the word again, let alone remember it. 

This year I tried again, I chose several words and phrases, wrote it in a place I thought I would notice them, tried to remember where that was. I did better this year, I definitely feel I accomplished more towards what my goal/resolution/word was leading me too. 

I added an element to the latter part of this year that, at the time, I didn't realize help would me to accomplish my goal. I became part of a group that helped me remember my word & how to get where I wanted to go.

I like having a word or phrase I can focus on. Something that reminds me where I want to go, even if it is to be a better person, not necessarily the traditional... lose weight, get out of debt, be more production, etc, etc, etc.

If this sounds like something you would like to try, I will be having an event on January 26, 2020 to find your your word for the year and create an item that will keep your word present and noticeable; to remind you what you would like to be or accomplish.

This won't be the only time we get together to discover what our word will be, there will be others throughout the year; just in case the first word you chose is not working for you.