Friday, December 30, 2016

Good Bye 2016; here's to a Joyful 2017

2016 is almost over. This is the time of year people start talking about their New Year Resolutions, starting fresh, or moving on.

I'm not much for resolutions, and I really don't believe in "fresh starts," but I have been intrigued by the idea of picking a word or theme by which to live the next year - My One Word . While this is a faith based campaign, my personal reason for doing this is really to just be more purposeful in my daily living in 2017. So, what's my one word for 2017?

Joy

I want to do things that bring me joy, purchase only things that bring me joy, get rid of things (and people) that don't bring me joy, and share my joy with others. I want to be joyful in all aspects of my life.

Now, I think some of this is going to be a real challenge for me. I'm generally a happy person, but am I joyful? I'm not sure. I'm certainly going to make a conscious effort in 2017 to be joyful. I'm going to start by getting rid of many things that don't bring me joy. I have a lot of stuff - clothes, kitchen things, stuff people have given me that I don't really love but have felt guilty about letting go. I have to let go of things that don't bring me joy.

I'm also not really sure what activities truly bring me joy. Earlier this week, a friend asked me what I like to do when I'm not at work or with my kids. I had a difficult time answering him. I realize that over the last 25 years, I stopped doing many things that had brought me joy in the past. Why? Well, because the thing I liked most was being with Jeff, and he didn't like some of the other things I liked to do. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about the compromises I made. This is what adults do when they want to have a relationship, and honestly, being with Jeff brought me so much joy. It didn't matter if we were sitting in bed looking at our phones together, watching Supernatural, or talking about our days. I loved being with him when we took the kids to movies or out to eat. He brought me so much joy.

But he's not here any more, at least not physically. And I have to figure out again what brings me joy.





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