My Word and Goals for 2019

I have been thinking about my word for 2019 for a few weeks now and ever since writing my post about why and how to choose a word for the year I have been having some great discussions on the topic with friends.

This is my ninth year choosing a word and as always I’m excited about the word that will be sticking with me for the next twelve months.

Curious about my previous words? I didn’t write a blog post every year but you can check out my words for 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018.

The word I chose for 2019 is ADVENTURE.

 

 

While adventure was one of the first words to pop into my mind for this year I struggled with the word because I felt like it sounded so privileged and that is not what I intended. But then I realized that as long as I defined what the word adventure meant for my year I could still use it. I ended up taking the actual definition of adventure and changing it slightly.

 

So, what adventure means to me:

viewing life as an exciting experience

 

I thrive on change but am aware that change (at least at the degree that I want it) is not always possible. This year I want to view my life as an adventure, no matter what happens or how little change may actually happen. In reality, a lot of this comes down to changing my attitude.

 

 

One of the reasons I enjoy travelling with my kids so much is because I get to see the world through their eyes, they have such a fresh take on life and have the ability to stop and notice things I would skim over. While having adventure for my word this year I want to make sure I don’t skim over the next 365 days but rather, I want to cherish each one as though it is it’s own adventure.

God has made this incredibly beautiful and complex world that we live in and I so often forget to stop and savor them (savor was a close second for my word) and that is why I chose adventure as my word this year.

In addition to picking a word each year I also set a number of goals for myself. I have been thinking a lot about goals lately and thought I would share some of my goals for this year. (Some of because a few of them are personal goals that I would rather not share into cyberspace.)

 

I love this quote and completely agree with it! (Hence why it’s on my letter board.)

 

MY GOALS FOR 2019

1) Document the everyday with video more – I want to start making a short video compilation at the end of each year of the tidbits of video Jared and I take. He’s way better at remembering to take videos than I am so it’s something I would like to improve this year. You may notice I’m not putting an exact number on this (it’s not a SMART goal) but I feel like I’ll know if I have taken more or not.

2) Make photo books for 2015-2018 – um, so I’ve slacked with this for the last few years. We love the ones we do have so I need to get my act together and make some for the last four years.

3) Take a big trip as a family – where this will be I don’t know. I had hoped Italy & France but then we second guessed doing that trip at this time, then we contemplated buying a motorhome and doing some road trips but now we second guessed that idea so I’m not sure where we will go but I have a good chunk of savings for this already so it should happen. There is a personal goal that I have that is a little more out of my reach that may bump this goal off the list. Only time will tell.

4) Take a one month social media break – this is what I am doing for January! I actually started before Christmas already but I plan on going until the end of January, so it will be a month and a half break. I’m going to share some thoughts about break after it’s over.

5) Go vegan for a month – this is something I have been wanting to do for awhile and I don’t think it will be too hard. The things that will be the hardest for me are eggs, bacon and maybe honey.

 

 

6) Consistently track my income monthly – the last couple of years I’ve just calculated all my income from blogging at the end of the year but that’s really annoying to do, this year I want to do it at the end of each month.

7) Exercise on Mondays and Thursdays – I fell off the exercise band wagon the last few months and would like to get back into it. I don’t enjoy exercising but it does make me feel better.

8) Learn more – (once again, not a SMART goal). I want to do this mainly by reading more non-fiction and watching more documentaries.

9) Read 5 Elisabeth Elliot books – this year I’ve chosen Elisabeth Elliot as my literary mentor and plan on reading at least five of the books she’s written.

Those are my goals for this year! Around my birthday in May I will create a longer list of birthday goals (one goal for each year I’ve been alive), that is always fun to make, though I haven’t made one for the last few years I want to get back into it this year.

 

What goals are you setting this year? And do you have a word picked? I would love to hear them!