I’ve been seeing a lot of social media posts about picking a word for the year. This is like a New Year’s Resolution yet different because it’s just one word. Resolutions are too specific and therefore hard to follow. With life circumstances changing throughout the year a New Year’s Resolution may suddenly not fit in so it gets abandoned. But A New Year’s Resolution Word, now that seems doable. I like that I can apply that one word to any and every area of my life. I like this idea so I chose a word.
I chose the word intentional.
Intentional. I like the versatility of it as I can apply that word to any area of my life for the whole year. I’m giving myself permission to change what area of my life I’d like to be intentional in based on my daily life. I feel confident that I can be successful with this type of resolution.
Being intentional is about priorities. My priorities this year are motherhood/family and work.
Being intentional means doing something on purpose. It means not accidentally falling into something, but taking forethought and making specific solid steps to be intentional.
Intentional in my Motherhood
Had someone told me when my kids were babies that eighteen years will go by so fast, I wouldn’t have believed them or even fathomed it. But now I get it. It zooms by.
I want to be intentional in my motherhood. For instance, if I don’t stop working to play a game with my kids, the game and the memory will never happen. If I don’t stop working on the computer, or folding clothes, or cleaning, I won’t be interacting with my kids. As they get older, they happily occupy themselves. So I have to be more intentional, stop what I’m doing or we won’t make that memory of playing the I Spy Game or Apples to Apples or Disney DVD Bingo. It just won’t happen, and that makes me sad.
I want to be more intentional about making family vacation memories. Once kids are teens, time left living in the house seems short. As a parent, I want to be intentional about where we want to vacation as a family. I want to think about what travel goals we have in the short few years we have before our first child graduates.
I want to be intentional about specific memories I want to create with my husband and kids. Time is going so fast and I feel like I’m running to catch up with my life and it’s a darn struggle. I don’t want regret, so I’m going to be more intentional about where we go and what we do. I’m going to be intentional to make choices all about us as a family.
Being Intentional by Setting Priorities
Being more intentional about not missing sports games is a big one for me. The kids may or may not play a certain sport from one year to the next. I don’t want to feel like I missed out on games because I was too busy. If I miss a game, I want there to be a good reason. Like one of my other kids is sick and I need to stay home with him, or because their games are at the same time. I will be intentional about making it to every game this year.
I want to be more intentional about holidays, how we spend them as a family, and what food traditions we continue that the kids love. Repeat traditions and special foods are parts of the holidays kids remember. It’s important for them to have those special memories to carry throughout their lives. I want to keep making that same cookie recipe they love and pay attention to their requests. Enjoying food together intentionally will bring great joyful memories.
Being Intentional about Faith
Going to church is important to me as is being intentional about getting there as often as we can. Kids only get a short time of eighteen years to spend living with us, if we don’t make the most of it and expose them to church, they will be less likely go as adults. If they are given the foundation of religion and church attendance as kids, it will be a part of their growing up experience. It will also be a part of their growing brains. I think of it as a pathway in the brain. The more we think about religion, the stronger that pathway is in our brain. Even if they leave the church for a bit at some point in their lives, the foundation is still there from childhood experience.
Being Intentional about my Work
I want to be intentional about growing my blog, my business, and my writing. There are steps and routes I want to navigate and I need to make them a priority. I have rough drafts in my brain of my goals for the year. The goals I intend to be intentional about.
How about you?
Have you thought about how you want to be intentional? What is your New Year’s Resolution word for the year?
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