New Year's resolutions are not for me, but last year I decided to choose a word for the year to help me focus and prioritize. My word for 2015 was adventure. To me, that word represented a desire to get out, explore, and make memories, and I think we did exactly that.
So I'm going for round two in 2016. My word for this year is content. When this word first struck me as a contender, I thought, "Nah, where's the potential for growth in that word?" But the more I considered it, the more I realized that my attempts at growth have far too frequently come from a sense of comparison or competition or "If I work really hard and fix/accomplish/achieve this, things will be right and good." Approaching it from that direction is unsustainable at best, self-flagellation at worst, and more often than not has led me to do things that don't really make me better and certainly don't make me happy or good for the people I love.
Maybe the biggest adventure of 2015 was letting go of some of the junk that left me feeling used up and empty and giving due attention to the people who matter most and the actions that make me feel like the best version of me. Maybe things right now are, in fact, right and good, and maybe it's worth saying that out loud while also digging in from a place of kindness and love to make them even better. So being content in 2016 doesn't mean sitting around and being okay with whatever but rather getting intentional about being comfortable in my own skin and waking up to the best of where I am right now, both geographically and a bit more figuratively.
That feels big and vague, but I've got some concrete ideas on how to start. I'll be learning how to take a compliment ("Thank you" is allowed. Deflection is not.). The Team Hammonds adventuring will continue with a focus on exploring things close to home and learning to love where we live. And I want to build on the "document and share things better" plan that I began last year, both here on the blog and on Instagram.
Happy 2016!
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