We were trying to decide what to post about the New Year and came across this article by Lindsay Cotter, who writes Cotter Crunch.  We loved  her brilliant idea of picking a word to focus on to make the new year and our lives better and it seemed like a “resolution” we could easily stick to and not forget about come March.   First, we’re sharing her post with you and then our ONE WORD choices for the New Year.  Many thanks Lindsay.  Enjoy…..

One Word Weekend: No Resolutions

by lindsay cotter on December 23, 2012

I know what you’re thinking. It must be one of those “one word” posts that goes along with pictures and scenes from the week, right? Well yes and no. There will be pictures and a few weekend snippets, but the “one word” is more of a theme.

You see, as the we approach Christmas (in 2 days) and New Years (in 9 days!!), it’s natural for us to talk resolutions, new challenges, good intentions, etc. But I have a confession, I am not a resolution maker. In fact I am not really goal setter either. I just want to focus on progress, in ALL areas of life.

Yesterday I read THIS DEVOTIONAL and boy did it hit me hard. Especially this quote.

“Lose the long list of resolutions — all your sweeping promises to change — and do something about one thing this year instead of nothing about everything.”

Um.. that sounds like a good plan.. no wait.. A GREAT PLAN, a GOD PLAN!

While I desire to progress in every are of my life, sometimes it’s just too much. Being the best I can be is often unrealistic. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great thought and intention, but yes, the reality is we might not progress as much as we want or as fast as we want.

So… this one word. I’m picking one for the year. Like this PLAN says!

The challenge is simple: lose the long list of changes you want to make this year and instead pick ONE WORD.

This process provides clarity by taking all your big plans for life change and narrowing them down into a single focus

MY WORD IS NURTURE.

I want to nurture well my trust in God and HIS plans for us.

I want to nurture well my relationship with my husband. Being his SHERPA wife, believing in HIS dreams for us, and nurturing the RESPECT I have for him.

I want to nurture well my day and my time, filling those minutes with simple things that bring not only myself JOY but that bring others JOY. And maybe even doing less, yes I said it.

I want to nurture well myself. Yes, moving forward with health and healing. Because the truth is, that is one area we cannot control unless we give up control.

As a woman, I feel quite at ease nurturing. It’s part of my womanly role, the nurturer. I think it’s about time I start embracing that role just a little more.

Think about your ONE WORD. Do you have one? I bet you do. What is it?

Cheers,

LC

We thought about our ONE WORD, which actually did not take much thought.  It was a fairly pain free exercise, but one that made us stop and think of the year ahead, what it might look like in reality and in our ideal worlds, and came up with the following:

DANA chose EMBRACE:  to hold close in one’s arms, as an expression of affection.

As I thought about my word, I first thought about my year ahead and wow, is it looking to be very exciting, yet very scary.  The events alone that are planned are life-changing:

• my twins graduate from high school
• then they head to Europe and India together
• after they return, they are off to college, to two different universities
• as they leave for their trip, my trihubby and I are moving to Omaha, and yes I have found the trishop…

So I chose EMBRACE as my word; embrace the changes; enjoy them AND allow the year to be fulfilling, no matter how emotional or challenging.  I will hold 2014 close with affection and through it all, learn to be stronger and encourage all around me to be also and join me in embracing the New Year.

SHERRY chose RELEASE:   to free from something that confines, constrains, or holds back.

As I thought about my word, I realized that I may take chances in some areas of my life, but I am restrained in accomplishing a lot due to fears.  While I do recognize the constraints these fears impose on my life and have for a long time, it has remained difficult for me to let them go.  Hence, I am going to RELEASE the fear this year and see how much more I can achieve.  I will vow to:

• free myself from the fear of taking action – my new mantra will be “don’t hesitate”
• free myself from worrying about daily life and things that I cannot control or that may never happen
• free myself to try new things and be bold
• free myself to realize others feel the exact same way AND that I am the only one holding me back

Sharing this word with others, is a bit releasing in itself.  I now feel there is a bit more accountability to succeed.  Let’s hope 2014 is the year I finally break free of fear.

JODI  chose RECONNECT:  to re-establish a bond of communication or emotion.

This has been a challenging year for me in many ways….and somewhere along the way I became lost in the process.  Looking back on 2013, I now realize I was/am retreating from others and living more solitary than my normal nature.  I’ve neglected important relationships and missed laughing and loving and crying together moments.  So when I read this, I was inspired to Embrace the opportunity to Release myself from the mire I had bogged down into and choose a goal for the year… A Word to live by.  So, this year of 2014 I am striving to: – reconnect with friends both near and far – reconnect with family of all relations – reconnect with community wherever I am – and most important, reconnect with myself and find me again 🙂 Just putting it in writing is my first step.  I hope to continue to reach out and make a come back!

So, there you have our ONE WORDS  for the New Year.

AS LINDSAY ASKED, DO YOU HAVE A WORD FOR 2014?

 – THE TRIWIVES