Word for 2018: Devote

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that the first week of 2018 has treated you well. We've spent the last day surrounded by snow which is a bit unusual for the Virginia Beach area. It's fun to have snow days but I'm already dreading having to make them up hah!

During the past few days, I have really been working on finding my word of the year. I've chosen a word the last two years and I love that they give me something to focus on and a way to set my intentions. I have to be honest, I lost track of my word after a few months in 2017. I let the this busy season of life swallow me up and the word "perspective" seemed to go out the door. So I am declaring now that I will intentionally focus on my word this year, not just now but month after month, finding what it truly means for me.

I decided that to help me along my journey I would join the One Little Word class put on by Ali Edwards. I LOVE her style of memory keeping and how she documents her year alongside this focus word. I used to scrapbook by hand, then went to digital scrapbooking, then sadly stopped altogether. In many ways, my blog is a memory keeper for me and it just took over the rest of my creative time. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE writing my blog and I love the creativity it inspires. I am just looking for something a little more tangible and specifically focused on curating a dedicated space for my word. If you're interested in what I am talking about, head over to Ali's website and see what she offers. So neat!

So let's get to it... my word for 2018 is {DEVOTE}. I thought about this for a long time and this word really encompasses what I want to focus on.

I want to DEVOTE myself to my relationship with God more than ever before. Now that I'm not working at a Christian school, I find that I have to work even harder to find those moments with Him. At my last school, there were opportunities all around me. I could pray with a coworker, sing worship  during Chapel, and spend time in fellowship during Devos. I know that to deepen my relationship with the Lord I need to create time for my devotionals and not just pray every now and then. My relationship with Him comes first and foremost.

I will DEVOTE time to finding balance in my life. As most of you know, I moved this past year and basically everything in our life has changed. We are in a new state, a new side of the country, a new home, a new job, new friendships, etc. I focused so much on setting up on our home and digging in deep with my job that I let everything else go to the wayside. I need to re-establish balance.

I will DEVOTE this year to my health. Since we have been going through tons of fertility issues, I have let my health kinda go. Sounds strange when fertility has to do with health as well but I am focusing more on healthy eating and exercise. Since I spent so much time not being able to workout, I let that become my new norm and my habit. I have had the hardest time getting back into a consistent routine and I know that the excuses need to go to the wayside and it's time to get back to being me.

I will DEVOTE more time for my business and my blog. These are two things that I LOVE so much but when everything else starts to get crazy, these are easy for me to push aside. My business has done so much for us in the past two years and I have seemed to lose sight of what else it can do. With some exciting things happening fertility-wise it's even more important that I set my sights even higher in R+F. This business will give me the opportunity to choose my path for when we have a baby and what the future of my career looks like.

My blog is the creative outlet that I crave and need to fuel my soul. Creating things is a huge passion of mine and I have been able to funnel a lot of that attention into my house. Sharing what we are doing and where we are going in life is a way that I am able to connect with friends and family that live so far away. This needs to be a priority now more than ever. I will DEVOTE my time in those relationships.

So I hope this gave you a snapshot of what my intentions are for the year. I am excited about this word and everything it brings to light in my life. I have to be honest though, it's hard to reevaluate where we are compared to where we want to be. I don't think I'm going to be perfect in any area but being more intentional in where I devote my time is the goal. I hope you join me by choosing a word of your own and share it below if you do! :)

My word for 2016 
My word for 2017