The beginning of January.
The global representation of fresh starts and new beginnings.
I’m not a big resolution person, but I do love the feeling of a restart button that the beginning of January gives you.
It’s a time to pick back up what you’ve laid to the side. To be more dedicated to the way you want to live. A time to move on. A time to make changes and adjust.
During January, preferably towards the beginning, I love to take some time to reflect. To think on the past year…it’s joy and sorrows, weaknesses and strengths. I think, to have a better idea of where we are going we first have to know where we’ve been.
I find there is great knowledge and insight in observing patterns, and behaviors. It’s great to come up with a list of to-do’s and goals, but if we don’t analyze what we need to do to get there (and what has been keeping us from getting there), it’s nothing more than wishful thinking.
Some tools I’ve been using as I take on this process are:
An hour or two of quiet, courtesy of my husband and complimented by a lovely cup of earl grey.
Jennie Allen’s Dream Guide. Sometimes after the holidays, your brain is fried and you can’t come up with all the intentional questions yourself. Or maybe you are wanting to discuss the year ahead with a friend or spouse, and it’s just easier to have the prompts coming from someone else’s mouth instead of your own. I also love that it focuses on every aspect of life, not just an overview.
My May Designs planner. I love it’s punchy design and easy to customize options (ones for budgets, calendar, baby journal, etc). It’s the perfect size to pop in my purse and carry around. It doesn’t need an instruction manual, and it’s reasonably priced. I need a tangible calendar, and this fits the bill perfectly. I also have the lined notebook style to have as my journal to start the year.
She Reads Truth app. I started using this app early in 2014, and have been using it daily since. I think reading the bible is kind of a big deal, but let’s be honest, it’s not always easy. The app walks you through books of the bible, or topics like Thanksgiving or Advent with scripture and a devotional. At the start of 2015, they began a read through the bible in a year plan, which I’m loving. It’s easy to check off what you’ve read, and even if your day is extra crazy, who at some point doesn’t pull out their phone and start flipping through it at the stoplight, or in the waiting room, or in carpool? Even if it’s not ideal, you can get time in the word in the oddest of circumstances thanks to the app. I also adore their design team and the resources they provide, from beautiful lock screens, to quotes or verses ready for Instagram. They also genuinely care about their readers. I watched their livestream Christmas party (free!), and it was a bright spot, and time of worship in the midst of a crazy pre-holiday week. It was a ton of work for them to pull of, yet they did so without financial gain for the betterment of they readers. Love organizations that give back!
One of the questions Jennie has you review in her dream guide is what 2014’s best moments are. We were thankful to have had a lot of those. Funny how many I had forgotten until I took time to look back. After I had listed them all, from January to December, I stepped back to ask myself some more in depth questions about what I saw.
Are there people that consistently show up in my best moments?
For me there were. Obviously my husband and my family had the starring role in almost all the moments. Which I love. The more our family grows, the more I want to fiercely protect and fight for what we’ve built, and continue to add to those list of great moments.
There were additional people, but the people who were on the list, and those who weren’t was something worth observing. I wasn’t conscious of people as I made the list, so to go back and take note of the appearances and absences was interesting.
Is there a specific place most of the moments happened?
This was intriguing for me, because a lot of mine weren’t where I live. That alone is something that brought up lots of discussion between us as a couple. Several were in the other city I call home, and several were places we traveled to. Traveling brings joy and adventure for us, so it will be a priority in 2015. Thankfully international adoption requires some!
What’s not on the list?
I think this is just important to think on as what IS on the list.
What places, people, and things we regularly do are surprisingly absent from the list? Maybe it’s just due to timing or resources that the year dealt, but sometimes, I think we need to assess if there are people/places/things that should get as much of our time in the New Year. Maybe it’s time for a change of scenery, to drop that obligation, or to move on from a not so healthy relationship. If we keep doing what we’ve always done, we will keep getting what we’ve always gotten.
Are there moments that surprised you by being moments?
I painted my cabinets last spring. Finishing those was one of my moments, and it surprised me. It was hard work, but I loved the way they turned out! It helped me to better love the room of my home I spend the most time in, and made me feel like our home was a better reflection of my style. Starting our garden, and running a 10K with my husband also made the list. Pouring into others, or just having community over bible studies, coffee and meals was on my list. These moments gave me peace, or a sense of accomplishment…sometimes both! While the simple and sometimes mundane can surprise us by being on the list, I think those reveal something about our hearts, desires and talents that we should pay attention to.
As I looked back at the past year, I felt immense gratitude for the year we had. As I look ahead, I’m grateful for insight to better equip me to face the upcoming year. It means I’ve got work to do, backing out of some things, adding a few things, making changes…which isn’t always fun. However I enter the process with purpose and can see more clearly the importance and benefit of those changes. It gets me where I want to go.