New Year – Fresh Starts

There is something to be said about the new year. Resolutions. Goals. Fresh starts. But why? Does something literally happen when the clock turns midnight? Do you magically get transported to a new day, new time, different scenarios? No… As much as sometimes it would be nice to be able to do that. It’s not reality. So why do we pick January 1st as the day we are going to CONQUER the world? Well if you came here looking for that answer, I don’t have it for you. 😀
With the new year though, I am a fan of starting fresh. It is a great time to reorganize, re prioritize, and take a deeper look at what you want to accomplish for the upcoming year. I am such a geek for books and stationary. I love finding a fresh planner for the year, a good devotional, and a new journal. Look at the ones I found this year! I LOVE the Happy Planners. They are so cute and functional!
Anyways, back to New Years traditions… Do you pick a “word” for the year? I’ve never really done one before, until last year. For 2018 my word was intentional. I wanted to be intentional with my family, with my health, with my work, with my relationships, everything that I did I wanted it to be for a purpose. As someone who loads up her plate too easily, I learned to say no, and was intentional with my yeses. I’ve been praying about what this year will bring, and the word that I am to focus on, and the word BALANCE keeps coming to my mind over and over.

Coming off of a crazy whirlwind of holiday orders, I feel like I have lost a little touch with the balance in my life. It is so hard to juggle motherhood, work, manage the house, manage your finances, eat right, exercise, etc… When you are focusing on one area your mind drifts to that other area, and you find yourself not fully 100% at one place at one time; ever. If you are doing amazing at your work, you worry that you are not being present enough for your kids. If you are focusing on getting that to do list done, you stress because you skipped your morning workout to do it. If you decide to take that bubble bath, and put your feet up for the night, then you stress that you should have been folding that laundry pile instead. I wrote out those sentences for MYSELF. I have gone through every single one of those emotions. Usually multiple times a day. As I am working through these emotions, and asking God to calm my nerves, I am brought to this verse in Ecclesiastes. Probably one of the most popular messages from that book.

There is a time for EVERYTHING. So for this year, I am choosing to live in those moments completely, not live halfway in the moment and worry about being somewhere else.
I encourage you to read Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
I am asking God to help me keep the balance in all of those things, and I pray that if you are struggling with that too, that you can be encouraged tonight. Happy New Years friends. I am excited to be writing and sharing with you, (hopefully a lot more consistently than previous years.) Because, well you know. There’s a time to blog, and a time to not. And for now — it’s time. 😀