I learned about "the word of the year" trend on one of my favorite home/diy blogs that I follow called The Lettered Cottage. I'm sort of over the whole "New Year's Resolution" thing because they never last and they tend to focus on the month of January. I like the idea of a special word that "has the potential to inspire you and create intention in your life."
2013 will close out the first decade (of hopefully 8) of my marriage (Jan 3 2004) and it has been such an amazing decade. It will also mark my ten year graduation from college (Dec 2003). The two big events just happen to coincide perfectly. People always want to know what your 10 year goals are in life and I think I subconsciously set a few back when I was a wee 21 year old. Upon marriage: move somewhere, get a dog, buy a house, have 3 kids, raise them, etc. Upon graduation: get a job practicing architecture, get licensed, etc.
So, for my Word of the Year I decided to pick the word "FINISH." Here's the "official" meaning of the word according to dictionary.com:
1. to bring (something) to an end or to completion; complete.
2. to come to the end of.
3. to use completely.
4. to overcome completely; destroy or kill.
5. to complete and perfect in detail; put the final touches on.
and here's why I chose it:
- I am now 12 weeks away from having my 3rd baby and unless God tells us otherwise we will be finishing our family. Making and raising babies has definitely been a physical, mental and emotional challenge and while I'm a little sad this will be the end of the "making" them part, I'm really excited about what the future will hold for our family of 5. Raising children is one of the greatest blessings and I can't wait to see the ways God molds Dakota, Corban and "Crumpet" over the coming years as they are in our care.
- I am 4 of 7 exams away from being a licensed architect in the state of TN. After thousands of hours of required experience in specific areas and a few failed exams, I will be finishing my path to licensure. This has been a physical, mental and emotional challenge that I am thankful will be coming to an end!
- And because I like things in 3's, I thought I needed one more big goal. Since, I'm going to be done procreating in April, I've joked that I want to "get my body back" (whatever that means). My last goal is to finish a marathon (St. Jude on Dec 7 to be exact). I'll have plenty of weeks to train once I get my clearance from my doctor and I can't think of a better way to end the year than triumphing over a physical challenge that I've often thought about doing.
There are other smaller goals/dreams I plan to set throughout the year, and since I'm notorious for starting projects without bringing them to fruition, I will continually remind myself of my word and I think it will bring me just the encouragement I need to FINISH them. I'll keep you updated!
p.s. I started this blog post a week ago and because of a computer glitch, never got to publish it. I thought about the irony of not completing a blog post about finishing things and it pushed me on. See, my word of the year is already having a positive effect on me! :)
