My Word for 2013

Good morning!  I'm feeling chipper today but not quite motivated to do anything tangible and productive yet, which usually means it's a great time to blog :)

With the holidays behind us and the new year begun, I have done my share of thinking about goals and plans.  For the last few years, one of the things I have been using to solidify my resolve and remind myself of my goals throughout the year is Ali Edward's One Little Word concept.  Basically I pick a word for the year that best fits what I want to focus on for the year.
I love the way Ali describes it.

 "You live with it. You invite it into your life. You let it speak to you. You might even follow where it leads. There are so many possibilities."

If you want, you can see the words I used in previous years (link here). 

In the past year, especially the last few months, I felt a bit like life was galloping along and I was kind of just along for the ride, holding on for dear life at some points.  (Ok, maybe not quite that extreme but it's a nice visual, right?)  And what I would truly like to work on this year is figuring out how to make the days more...mine.  To feel less like life was quickly passing by and I wasn't getting what I wanted to out of it.  And it wasn't necessarily about control.  I think I'm pretty good about setting priorities, saying "no," delegating, making sure most things on my list get accomplished, planning some fun things and down time when needed, etc.  I ran through a bunch of words to try to describe to myself what it was I wanted.  Simplify.  Revel.  Savor.  Explore.  And the word I kept coming back to was

Choose

Not the most exciting word as words go but a very versatile one when it comes right down to it.  By definition Choose means:

1. to select from a number of possibilities; pick by preference:

2. to prefer or decide (to do something)

3. to want; desire.

To me that means taking the time to be more aware of what I am choosing to do with my time and how it will affect my life.  Take spending time with the kids.  I ran across this quote by Anna Quindlen this morning and thought it was great.  "...when in doubt choose the kids.  There will be plenty of time later to choose work."
Some other great quotes from Pinterest

 

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Perfect right?  One of the things I try to work very hard on is my attitude and perspective on anything that is currently going on in my life.

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For when I doubt myself.

(photo found here)

And for when I need a little reminder to prioritize or not try to add anything else into a packed schedule.


So I'm wondering, does anyone else have a word for their year?