Do you struggle with lists of resolutions made in at the beginning of every new year? I used to make endless lists and usually lost them before the end of March. I had learned about the One Little Word project/class from others in the scrapbook/papercrafting industry. There are so many great words and picking a word can be difficult, but what is your 2019 One Little Word? After choosing a word in the past few years and following with the prompts from Ali Edwards, I learned to narrow those lists down to several intentions.
Purpose
I chose the word purpose as my 2019 One Little Word. This word sort of found me towards the end of November 2018 and has resonated with me ever since. I also chose several companion words which include open, present and mindful. I tried over and over to define myself and the purpose of my life and what I want to do with it. So I decided this was the year to make a decision. I narrowed my list of intentions down even further and came up with a list of things I wanted to do this year. Things like hosting a formal dinner party, learning English style horseback riding, traveling more (Scotland, Iceland and the Canary Islands sound good), taking a cake decorating class and opening an online shop with my printables.
Being my son’s full time caretaker for more than a decade defined my identity and after his death in February 2017 I struggled with a feeling of disconnection with my life myself and everyone around me. It felt like my life and my trials were so much harder than those of everyone else. Recently, I had a conversation with a friend and I made the comment that we cannot compare our hard with others and it should not be a competition to see who has it worse. She actually wrote it down. It made me realize how much everyone else struggles too.
I saw this quote and it fit my life. I think some of my past words helped me prepare for this part of my life.
Past Words
My 2016 word was Aloha which literally means presence of breath but also represents so many other words and reflects my love of Hawaii and the aloha spirit and it would be the last time my son would see Hawaii (which was a place he loved so much) in his life.
The word Journey found me in 2017 and I had no idea of the path my life would. It included my husband finishing his college degree and the overwhelming loss of my son-Shawn. We also went to Japan with my family (over 30 people) and we were on a crazy busy schedule it gave me a lot of time for self-reflection. It also helped me develop some peace with my inner turmoil.
In 2018 it was Breathe and I did learn to breathe again. I realized that life does go on and laughter heals many wounds. Taking an amazing trip to Thailand with my sisters helped me realize that! It is also interesting to see what you learn from looking a 12 ft tall elephant in the eye.
I felt like I had been holding my breath while waiting to see what would happen next and now I could breathe. Hopefully choosing my 2019 One Little Word of Purpose helps me determine mine.
I have never created a vision board before so here is the one I created and will be having printed this year to remind me of my 2019 One Little Word
PURPOSE.
