Here's to 2018

For the past few years, I've chosen one little word to guide me through the new year rather than a list of resolutions that never seemed to change from year to year.  Like most people, it seems, resolutions just don't work all that well for me in changing my actual behavior.

Last year my word was Cultivate.  I had grand plans.  Some worked out, but mostly 2017 seemed to be a year of misplacing my mojo.

Y'all.  It was a hard, hard year.

I'm not ready to say I've lost my mojo---but it has definitely gone MIA.

I'm pretty sure my mojo and my joy ran away together.  They are probably living it up on a sandy beach somewhere at this very moment when I am putting fuzzy socks on my feet since it is a brisk 25 degrees outside here in my neck of the woods this morning.

I am a joyful person by nature.
I don't typically run to melancholy.
Kids often tell me I'm happy all the time.
But 2017 just felt...meh.

People don't always like to talk about the hard times.
Sometimes it is viewed as being negative.
The truth is, though, that life happens to all of us.  Some good, some bad.
Pretending everything is great all the time doesn't work long-term.
I'm not about to bad-mouth anything or anyone.
I'm not even about to share details.
But I am speaking my truth when I say this year has been a heckuva hard year and I am changed.

So, this year, I'm setting out to find my missing Joy.
I know my mojo will return with it----they are besties and partners-in-crime.
I am remembering my locus of control.
I am remembering that the answer is also to love more, not less.
I am remembering that perfection is an illusion.

“I just do the best I can to face what life brings. That’s the secret, you know. That’s the way you change your fate.” 
― Alice Hoffman, The Rules of Magic

OLW 2017

Last year was my first year to fully embrace the OLW movement.  For 2016, my word was Invictus. A strong word that helped get me through a tough year. It was the perfect word at just the right time for me.

This year, my word is CULTIVATE.  
This word fills me with hope.

Merriam-Webster.com defines it as:

1. 1:  to prepare or prepare and use for the raising of crops; also:  to loosen or break up the soil about (growing plants)
2. 2a:  to foster the growth of <cultivate vegetables>b:  culture 2ac:  to improve by labor, care, or study:  refine <cultivate the mind>
3. 3: further, encourage <cultivate the arts>
4. 4: to seek the society of:  make friends with

Every single one of these definitions applies to want I want to call forth in this new year.

I've bought rosemary plants for my soon-to-be-reality herb garden, and have begun looking into some heirloom seed catalogs for others.

I'm  fostering the growth of some new habits and things I want to learn.

I have definite and not-so-definite plans for cultivating joy and other awesome things in my workplace because here is something I know-- it is up to ME to create JOY in my life.  I will breathe and add whimsy and smile and hold doors and write notes and wear pirate costumes and hold Tiara Tuesdays because these are things that make my work week bright for myself and for those around me.

I need to loosen the soil of some long-held beliefs that are no longer serving me in order to let them go and move forward. This is a hard thing, but a necessary thing and I am ready to do the work now.

I also love that my word is a verb because this year I want to do.  I came across and retweeted this on Twitter (by @thebradmontague) today. It really spoke to me.

Yes, CULTIVATE is my word and I look forward to seeing where it leads me.
What's yours?