For many, 2020 represented a very difficult, dark, and overwhelming year. While I tried to focus on the moments that brought joy, I have to say, 2020 hurt me. I am a bit of a social butterfly, and my kids are quite social, which meant that following the guidelines to stay home, and stay relatively isolated, was tough for our family. Like many, we missed seeing our friends and family, and we missed going on road trips.

My calendar pages no longer say “2020”, and I am moving forward with optimism and hope.

Last year, I wrote about how I enjoy the idea of changing the calendar to a new year, and setting new goals for growth. Rather than make a resolution that I’m likely to break only days after setting it, I pick a word to guide my intentions and actions as we move ahead in the new year. After this period of darkness, I hope to bloom in 2021. My word this year is “mindfulness”. I want to be mindful of the impact of my choices, my words and my actions, and more importantly, I want to be more mindful of others.

I want to model this behaviour to my kids and help them to be present, to be respectful and to be intentional. I began by setting boundaries for myself. My phone has the option to set limits on how long I can use an app in any given day, and so I first began by limiting access to social media. Now I am forced to be mindful of how much time I spend on the social media rabbit hole. The next step I took was to set time for myself every day. I realized that most days, I didn’t have a minute alone. Now, I am putting aside 30 minutes of the day to be alone. So far, this has typically resulted in the dog getting an extra walk, one with just me.

Are you someone who sets resolutions? Have you ever considered picking a word to help you to navigate your growth over the calendar year? Let me know in the comments below.