Joy Filled Living and Dwelling in the New Year

Happy New Year! I am welcoming this new year with arms wide open. It is a new chapter, unwritten, full of potential, possibility and no mistakes… yet. As L.M. Montgomery put it in her book Anne of Green Gables “Tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it… Yet.” In the new year the fresh start excites and motivates. I love to dream, make plans, create a list of fun goals to accomplish and move forward. In 2018 I’m focused on joy filled living and dwelling in the New Year.

Are you ready for a New Year?

At the end of each year I start reflecting on the year past to get ready to move forward in the year to come. This review helps me access what I want to keep doing, what I want to change and how I want to grow.

Two years ago I stopped making resolutions and I started making goals. A big goal for 2017 was to stop adding more, doing more, being more. Instead I wanted to refocus on the things that matter the most. With a new year ahead I’m already dreaming big again. Of course you can set goals at any time, but don’t we all feel a little extra motivated at the beginning of the year?

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream – C.S. Lewis

2017 is full of things I’m ready to leave behind. I’ll be honest it was a tough year. Shall we call it a refining year? The kind of year that tests and stretches and pushes you. It was full of transition and unexpected challenges. There were so many highs and lows this year. It wasn’t all tough though. It was also full of many wonderful adventures and memories. That’s life. A beautiful, messy mix of challenging and delightful.

What are you leaving behind in 2017?

What can I leave behind in 2017? What’s keeping me from moving forward, from living freely, from the kind of unfettered joy I want to live my life enveloped in? As I enter a new year I look towards living with a passion to pursue life confidently with the gifts I’ve been given.

I want to leave fear and uncertainty behind in 2017. I tend to wait to move forward in certain areas without any real plan of how I’m actually going to move forward. I’m learning that if you really want to move forward and accomplish things you can’t wait. You just have to start and take action. Even if that means figuring some things out as you go. I like to have it all figured out before I take action, but that isn’t the most realistic plan of attack.

What are you leaving behind in 2017? Tell me in the comments below!

Joy Filled Living and Dwelling in the New Year

There are also many wonderful things I want to carry into the new year with me.

In so many ways as I reflect on 2017 I enter into 2018 with many of the same goals. My motto this past year has been joy filled living. When things are exciting and adventurous and going well it’s easy to have happiness. In the midst of transition, chaos, when life is tough, when you can’t catch a break, when a new problem arises just as you’re solving the last there is also joy. So I’ve looked for joy in the center of it all. In the small quiet moments, in the moments of exploration, in the moments where I’ve wanted to hide in bed all day… I’ve sought a passion to live a joy filled life. I want to empower and uplift others. I want to use my gifts to help others find their creativity and live out their passions! I want to see you embrace a joy filled life.

My BIG 2017 Goal has become a life goal. Not contained to one year, but a mission to live out in my life. A core idea that I’m holding tight to: To empower and uplift others so that they may live full lives in pursuit of passionate creativity! So as we enter into 2018 I choose to continue to pursue God first and foremost, pursue living out a life with the talents He’s blessed me with and to pursue others with selfless passion!

I’ve also chosen a word for 2018: Dwell.

Dwell. This word has been resonating with me for over a year now. There is so much depth to it that I want to explore. It speaks to abiding, to fully being, to diving in and living beautifully where you are.

I deeply desire to dwell. To abide in the Lord. To enter deeply into relationships. To create a sense of dwelling both in my home and in my heart that is full, content, peaceful, warm, welcoming and always joyful.

Tell me, do you choose a word for the year? I’d love it if you would share it with me in the comments!

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Wishing you an absolutely Happy New Year!

xoxo Naomi