As I always do on January first I decided to come up with a list of New Year's resolutions that I would like to tackle in this upcoming year of 2013. As I started to right them all down, I began to get a bit overwhelmed. Being a self proclaimed perfectionist and always striving to better myself, the list became longer and longer and longer the more I sat and thought. But knowing what a perfectionist I am I realized that there was no possible way that I was going to be able to be "perfect" at everything....not that that truly matters. I knew however that I was just setting myself up for failure...not a good way to start the year. :)
I just so happened to be blog hopping the other day (as I usually do at 5:30 in the morning while my kiddos are watching Scooby Doo and I'm trying to wake up) and came across the idea of finding a "Word of the Year". One word that speaks to you about where you want to take your life in the upcoming year. One little word that you can focus on in your daily life. How hard was that? I can certainly focus on one word. So I sat and thought about it for a very long time. There were so many "one little word"s that popped into my mind that I had a hard time choosing.
I decided to take a step back and realize what really mattered to me right now. That was easy...my family. Kids grow up so fast and we're not getting any younger!!! I remember just yesterday sitting in a hospital bed holding Katelyn for the very first time or taking Ryan to get his first set of shots. Now she's half way through Kindergarten and talking like a 13 year old and Ryan in spending 2 days a week at school and wanting to ride a big boy bike. I have been so busy just trying to survive as a mother of 2 small kids that sometimes I've failed to take a step back and enjoy it all. (So much for perfect. :)) I once read somewhere a mother describe life of parenting small children this way, "The days are long, but the years are short." This is so true!!! It's going to be gone before I know it. Everyone tells you that when you're holding your newborn, but when you're being thrown up on or woken up 5 times a night, you find it hard to believe them. With no sleep, the days just seem to blur into one another. Those days are already gone though and I can't get them back as much as I want to now.
That's when I decided that my "word of the year" was going to be "Present". Being present is such a challenge when you're trying to balance taking of care of the kids while trying to plan and cook dinner, do the laundry, clean the house, pack for the next trip, run errands, drive the kids to...you get the point. When you're head is always trying to plan out your next move and you're just trying to stay one step ahead, it is really hard to stop, focus on the moment, and just enjoy the here and now. But that's just what I'm going to try and do. Enjoy and relish in the everyday moments that make life so great, because after all, these little moments and memories are what will bring a smile to my face later on in life and what every human spirit lives for.
What's your "Word of the Year"?
No comments:
Post a Comment