Our resolutions seldom work because they are based on the type of person we’re tired of being rather than who God wants us to become. Plus, resolutions can be “broken,” leaving no room for the process of growth. What if our hopes for the year ahead centered instead on who God wants us to become, and the transformation process? -myoneword.org

 

I got this idea from another photographer here in Hampton Roads. Instead of choosing a New Years resolution (that I’d most likely quit after a few weeks anyway), I decided to pick one word.  I went to myoneword.org and browsed at the words they have listed on their page. You don’t have to choose one of theirs… you could choose any word in the entire world!  But the idea is to choose one word that you can focus on all year long — a word you can strive to become, learn, get better at, etc.  My one word?  Well… I’ll get to that :-)

The last 14 months have been some of the CRAZIEST months of my life. I started my photography business, quit my corporate job to really focus and try to succeed at my photography, got married to my best friend, had our first child, and am now going into my 2nd year of owning my own small business as a wife and a mother trying to balance and juggle a million things.  I NEEDED a New Years ‘word’ for this upcoming year…not a resolution. If I had to choose a resolution it would be to eat healthier and hit the gym a few times a week. I’ve had that resolution before. I failed at it. And I was surely setting myself up for failure if I chose that as my resolution this year as well. Who am I kidding?! Owning a business plus being a mom full time is no joke…showering has become a daily accomplishment so if I thought for one second I’d succeed at ‘going to the gym’… I was surely mistaken (I do hope to work out via DVDs and the stationary bike in my garage while Aubree naps however ;-).  Choosing a word to sort of ‘abide’ by all year long and focus on seemed much more logical. And still challenging, too!

With everything I’ve accomplished in the last 14 months, the one thing I consistently was…was fearful.  Fearful of never making it in the photography industry…fearful of quitting my corporate job that I worked SO hard to get…fearful of failing, of never making it, of making myself look like an idiot.  UGH! So negative and all that fear ate me up. It was exhausting being fearful all the time of these things!  I never want to feel that way again, nor do I ever want to invest that much energy in such negativity.

When looking through the list of words on myoneword.org, I wrote down 5 of them. These 5 words caught my eye, made me think, made me feel something. But only ONE of them really stood out to me and made me WANT to use this as my ‘2014 word’.  The 5 words I wrote down?

1. Celebrate
2. Grateful
3. Confident
4. Successful
5. Fearless

FEARLESS!  This is my word! This is what I will be this year: fearless.  All those thoughts of never making it, not being good enough, not having a place in this industry…gone. Done!  This year my ‘resolution’ is to be more fearless.  To stop letting what everyone else says get to me and make me feel fearful. I am SO EXCITED to try something new this year, by choosing a word instead of a full blown resolution.  I’m excited to teach myself the definition of this word, every single day.  I KNOW I can conquer this and I think I’ll actually have fun with it!

How about you? Did you create a New Years resolution for yourself? If you haven’t…or even if you have, you should try myoneword.org and see what you can come up with :)  You don’t even have to tell anybody! You can totally keep it to yourself and see if you’re able to strive towards the one word you choose. I chose to write about mine via a blog post because when you say something, or in this case write something, you make it real. You allow others to hold you accountable to it.  Comment below and tell me what some of your resolutions or words are for the year… I’d LOVE to hear them! :)

Here’s to a New Year, with new possibilities, new dreams, and a whole new chapter to write. And here’s to making it worth reading! XO!

 

Photo credit: Lara Casey