It’s 2020. I don’t know about you, but I’m kinda struggling with the fact that I’m not quite where I want to be in terms of my life goals and just, well anything. I have a lot of irons in the fire, I have a lot that I’ve started. I want to make it to the finish line. I want to see projects launched, completed, out there in the world. I want to meet my goals. I want to regroup – and focus – on the things that really are important.
I crawled to the finish line in 2019. I was sick, our cat we’ve had for 10 years died in a pretty unexpected and traumatic way (she’s survived by her brother & a rescue my oldest and I took in a year after adopting her and Stripes), and to be honest, it was the last kick while I was already feeling pretty “meh.” It happened just 3 days before Christmas Eve, so you can imagine the mood that brought down over one of my favorite holidays.
Despite the icky things that happened during the year – it was definitely a transition year – I did make progress on some things and have some wins. I started leading my daughter’s Girl Scouts troop – and out of 19 girls, 17 earned at least 1 badge (most earned 2 or more; we had 2 girls join right before our winter awards ceremony who each earned 1). I became Small Craft Safety certified, CPR & First Aid Certified, and I even became a certified Archery Instructor. Lots of awesome things there!
After taking nine Girl Scouts camping for two days, I realized that I really needed to get on top of my fitness levels. I’m going to be completely open and transparent here: In the above photo – my “before” – I weighed 310.8 pounds. I was a size 24 in jeans, and a size 2xl (if we’re honest, I needed maybe a 3xl), on top. So, October 1st, I joined WW (Formerly Weight Watchers) – the link is a referral link, so if you click it & sign up, we’ll both get a free month. I have had SO much success. After messing my rotator cuff up in 2018 right before a half marathon I’d been training for and breaking my foot in March being clumsy, I’ve been hesitant to begin any huge exercise program until I get closer to 250 pounds. I’ve been walking, and trying to make sure I’m active every day. As of my latest weigh in, I’m 265.4 pounds – a weight loss of 45 pounds so far. In the photo below, I’m wearing size 16w jeans & an XL shirt – both from Dia & Co. As much as I loved Dia, I’ve actually cancelled my box there and have moved over to Stitch Fix.
I still have 90lbs to lose before I’m at the top end of what I should be for my height (5’10”). I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made thus far, and have been slowly ramping up my walking distances to get ready to start running again – boy do I miss running, but I do not miss injuries.
That brings us to the words of the year that I’ve chosen – Focus, Prioritize, and Finish. Originally, I had chosen 1 word for the year – focus – but then I read Chris Brogan’s “My 3 Words for 2020,” and the reasons for choosing 3 words really resonated with me. I knew I wanted “Focus” on there, and “Prioritize” had been a close second. Then, the other night…”Finish” came to me.
Why “Focus”
Let’s face it, I wear a lot of hats. I’m a mom of four kids – two still too young for school. I’m a wife. I have a house – and it has it’s own responsibilities of home ownership. I run this blog and two others. I’m a consultant. I sew things and sometimes sell those things. I’m a volunteer – I work with the Juvenile Arthritis Fundation’s Jingle Bell Run committee for my city & in addition to being a Girl Scouts Leader, I’m also on the Gold Award Committee for Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland & I’m on the Volunteer Advisory Committee. I’m serving as CMO for a startup and Development Director for a charity organization that was just recognized by the Dallas Chapter of the United Nations for the work we’ve done in Zimbabwe. I have my health. I have about a dozen or so other business ideas. I have at least two dozen book ideas. I low-key want to go back to school. If you fell asleep during this paragraph, then you know why I need “Focus.”
Why “Prioritize”
With so many hats, things get lost. I’m not even going to sugar coat that. It’s a problem. I’ve been much better about it the second half of the year than I was the first half, but I can definitely still do some work in this area. When everything feels important, nothing gets done, so I’ve been taking time to figure out what realistic priorities are and to come up with a system to make it easy for me to see what my priorities are. This will enable me to stop putting out fires.
Why “Finish”
I have so many projects I start and then don’t finish. Sometimes it’s because of lack of funds, sometimes it’s because I lack focus, sometimes it’s because I didn’t prioritize well. Things that need to be finished or at least closed out steal my bandwidth from things that need my focus or should be priorities. So, finishing what has been started is a huge theme for this year.
Previous Years’ Words
Last year’s word was “Sparkle.” I think i did a decent job of that. I made my outside a priority – which definitely helped with my inside. I invested money in clothing that fit and made me feel good. I gave up my hang ups on spending money to maintain a signature cut and color. I went back to wearing makeup regularly again when leaving the house. I focused on things internally that gave me joy & really thought about what makes me happy and hat does not.
The year before was “Conquer.” The year conquered me. I ended 2018 feeling pretty defeated. I did kick butt and finish a 12k and some other races that year – but then I got injured and it just sunk my motivation.
2017’s word was “Reclaim.” I wanted to start reclaiming things that were part of me before I was a mom of 4. I sort of did. I started running again. But I also had postpartum depression and anxiety i was battling through.
What are your words for 2020?
Do you choose 3 words or just one word? Share in your own blog post, share on Twitter, share on Facebook, share in my comments. By speaking our intentions out loud, we are better able to be accountable.
