What’s In Store For 2016?

Happy New Year!!!  Exciting time, right?  There’s something about the new year that makes me want to start fresh- and I have a clean slate ready to be filled with scribbles of fun, work, and plenty of memories.  😉

I have some thoughts on my own personal 2016 that I wanted to share, so here goes!

1. Maybe you’ve heard people talking about their word of the year lately.  I personally never knew it was a “thing” until last year.  This is just something I’ve always liked to do- I haven’t picked a word every year, but I’ve at least known of some things I wanted to work on or embrace more of throughout the course of 365 days.  It wasn’t until I discovered Ali Edwards and her bits of inspiration to us in the paper crafting/album making community that I realized she created a movement of sorts based around this same concept…  And she simply calls it One Little Word®.

This year, mine is mercy.  I didn’t pick the word.  I suppose you can say it was handpicked for me.  There’s a story behind it- isn’t there always? 

I was traveling for Thanksgiving, and after 5 hours in the car, I started to get tired and headachy and just totally grumpy…. Nadia was being an angel.  I, on the other hand, wasn’t.  So I started praying- out loud- and said, “What should I work on this upcoming year?  Like, what’s my “word” & where should my focus be?”  A few minutes later, I was listening to music, and one of the songs said something about “mercy”…. and the singer (Chris August) kept singing the word “mercy” every time I passed a sign that said something about mercy!!!  I’m used to stuff like this happening to me by now, but it still makes me laugh every time.  One sign in particular was a church sign that said “God is merciful.”  And it hit me- one of my spiritual gifts is mercy, and as much as that simply comes naturally to me these days, it’s something I’ve never truly explored more.  SO, this is the year.
No idea what it will look like.
No idea what I’m signing up for.
But I’m more than willing to see what’s in store for my year of mercy.

And yes, I may have just added this to my January Project Life album to document my One Little Word.  😉

2.  That brings me to my next point- Project Life ®… What am I doing, you ask?  Well if you follow my YouTube channel of ramblings, you might have watched a video about it already, but for those that haven’t-

This year I’m creating one album every single month.  I usually do one giant yearly book in a 12×12 album that gets heavier than my dumbbells, but I decided to switch things up this year and really dig into my stash of craft supplies.  Part of the reason why I’m doing this is to use up the stuff I’ve obviously been hoarding hanging on to for no reason.  But the other part is so I can try out different sizes and see which ones suit me best for documenting.  Then again, I do get bored easily, so switching it up every 30 days might keep me inspired anyways!  So for January, I’m working in a very small 4×4 album- so far so good. I’ll share that one later!!

3.  I’m *actually* using a planner.  It’s a Heidi Swapp Memory Planner that I’m using not only to plan my day to day agenda, but also to use as another creative space.  I’ve never been one to stick to using a planner.  Either I start out the year in super-crazy-plan-everything-we-do-in-a-day-including-bowel-movements mode (eww… not really!), but then the organization flame burns out around March and I give up… or I just don’t even try at all.  I also never understood the need to overly decorate planners like I see some people doing in the “planner community.”  But hey, what the heck, right?  I like pretty things- maybe if I make my planner a happy place with pretty decorations on the pages, I’ll actually use it, right? 😀

4.  I set some goals for myself- and one of them is to give more generously.  That includes time, money, possessions… whatever!  My poor Journal Shoppe is looking mighty empty as of right now, but I’ll be filling it back up with some brand spankin’ new journals soon- and the more I create, the more I have to give.  So to go back on the planner talk- I’ll be setting very specific work hours for myself on the days my husband has off work so I can really get my ideas for journals out of my head and into the shop.  I’m excited about it!  🙂

So that’s about all for now- what are your goals for the year?   Do you a have One Little Word?  Leave me a comment and let me know!  I love hearing what everyone else is doing.  Let’s make this the best year yet!