plans

The past six or so years, I have selected a word to inspire me as I go about the new year. This year is no different, but the word I am using this year kind of caught me off guard.

I had grand hopes for 2012 being a year of prosperity and financial growth. Instead, it ended up being full of challenges that tried to shake my faith and break me. It was both emotionally and financially draining. While my children and I have experience many challenges the past few years, we always seem to maintain a sense of optimism and hope that the next day will be a better day. This type of positive thinking is what sustains us and as their mother, I have to watch the mood and tone I set in my home.

For 2013, I prayed about my word. I asked God to let it inspire me and give me hope. The word came to me boldly: Restoration. Immediately, I was reminded of Bible verses about God’s promises to restore what has been lost. While I have lost many material things, in their place, I have gained so much more. My spirit is strong and so is my mindset that some situations are only temporary. How I choose to deal with them will determine the quality of life I live, and I am planning to live one heck of an amazing life.

Do you have a word of the year?

Happy New Year, my friends! I wish you blessings and much prosperity as we start off 2013. I used to start each new year with a crazy list of resolutions only to dismiss them before the end of the month. A couple of years ago, I stopped making resolutions and instead set goals. That worked a little while longer than the resolutions route, but those too quickly went by the way side as life started to amp up. This year, I am doing something different. I am set up monthly projects to work on and I am limiting myself to no more than five at a time.

365 Self Portrait Project

I have participated in 365 photo-a-day projects before and I used to do one for self-portraits ages ago. This year, I will be shooting a self-portrait each day for the next 365 days. If you would like to participate, I would love to have you join my self-portrait group on Flickr. I want to stretch myself with my photography and see if I can be more creative with how I play with the light and use the various features of my camera.

Health and Fitness Project

This year, my overall health and fitness is one of my top priorities. I started using the LeanMoms.com fitness program a couple of weeks ago. The first day I worked out my legs and I was sore for four days. It was awesome! I purposely did not start this project in January because I wanted to already be well on my way to establishing new eating and fitness habits. I also wanted to set myself up for success instead of failure. I am noticing changes in my body and my energy level. Most likely, this health and fitness plan will end up being one of my monthly projects for the rest of the year.

Good Life e-Book

I have been intending to write this e-book for about six months and I simply have not made it a priority. This month, it is. My goal is to have the e-book ready to share within the next couple of weeks and start planning for my next e-book in February. No more talking about it, it is time to execute!

Good Life Newsletter

This year, I am going to start a newsletter for my new blog. I love connecting with people and this is a great way to share more than I normally would with my blog. I have had quite a few new people sign up to receive it and I plan to have the first one ready to go the week. Make sure you sign up with the link above.

#MailLove2013

Starting the first week of this month, I will be mailing out postcards to anyone who signs up. When I was a teenager and well into 20′s, I had many penpals I shared letters with on a weekly basis. I would come home to at least three to five letters each week from people I wrote to all over the world. I don’t know about you, but I love going to the mailbox and finding an actual real piece of handwritten mail amongst the bills. This project is really important to me, because I believe people have forgotten how important offline connections really are. I hope you will sign up to receive a postcard from me or at least take the time to send someone else a little mail love in 2013.

What types of projects are you planning to tackle this year? I would love to know.