Last year, my word for 2023 was “Less.”
My focus was on less. Less food so I could lose 32 pounds in 8 months. Less time on all our devices. Less spending and collecting stuff. Less busyness.
This year, my word is “More.”
Why? Well I’ll explain after I report out on less.
For the first half of the year, I did pretty well with less. I definitely spent less and I lost over 20 pounds being very careful about food and drink.
I wasn’t so great about the busy thing but also here’s the reality: I have three teenagers, all who have a social life and play multiple sports, I have a husband who works, and I’m General Counsel for a big company’s global supply chain. My life is just going to be busy. When the kids go off to college in four and a half years, my life won’t be as busy. And I’ll be sad. So I’m just going to be okay with the busy.
What I’m not okay with is that the wheels fell off the “less” bus from September through December. I had a big 50th birthday party and allowed that time to release the restraint on spending and eating/drinking and then I never put the restraints back on. Which means I’m just a few pounds lighter today than I was this time last year despite the gains I’d made earlier.
Sigh.
However, this year as I mentioned I’m going to focus on MORE! It sounds happy and fun and it’s also pretty practical.
What does this look like?
One: More Movement. Last year, I was focused on diet. That won’t be going away, it’s still important, but after my January 5K and a pretty bad spring ankle injury, I allowed movement to drop. Yet everywhere I look all the “experts” are basically saying you’re a crazy person if you’re not walking every day. For 2024, that means I move MORE!
Two: More Intentionality. In my nutty busy life, I can autopilot things which are important. I want to be more intentional about really hearing my kids. I want to be more intentional about what I drink or eat. More intentional about who and what I say yes to as opportunities (or detours) come my way.
Three: More connected to a community of faith. We left our church last January and we’ve been drifting all of 2023. It has been hard. I’ve learned the church which may be a good fit for me, isn’t a good fit for my family, so we’re unmoored. I’d like to plug into something that grounds me and grows my faith. More Jesus this year.
Four: More flexibility. AGH! I’m not flexible. But the kids are going to high school this year. I need to be open minded about how our lives look. I need to be more flexible about what our schedules do (or don’t do). My ability to operate with less notice is going to need to grow. More willingness to try new things and operate in a new medium is going to be critical to thriving in this new season.
What about you? Do you have a word this year? A focus? I’d love to hear about it. Praying we can all lean into the joy and challenges that arise in the year ahead.
Leave a Reply