:Musings:

2014

Nicky21 Comments

It’s hard to put into words what my word for 2014 means.  It’s been on my heart for months and although it’s been my constant companion for so long, it’s still hard to articulate what it means and what I want it to mean in 2014.   That word is: moderation.

By definition, it means:

mod·er·a·tion
ˌmädəˈrāSHən/
noun
noun: moderation
1.

the avoidance of excess or extremes

Synonyms like self-discipline, self-restraint, self-command, temperance, all come with the definition.

For me, 2014 is about seeing what practicing it will add to my life.  The point is not martyr-like self-deprivation — it’s intentional focus.

For instance:

  • moderating what I put in my mouth = a healthier me.
  • moderating my time = more opportunities to worship with my church family, have my devotional times and serve my community (through volunteerism).
  • moderating my time = more intentional downtime for me.
  • moderating my finances = more resources for moving to a new place to live, travel and necessary purchases.
  • moderating my yarn purchases = more opportunities to become creative with my current, very obese stash.
  • moderating my online time = more time to re-discover my family, real-life friends and my city.
  • moderating my online time = more crafting, cooking, exercising and reading time.
  • moderating my relationships = the opportunity to purge people who do not add positively to my life while openly showing appreciation for those who do.
  • moderating what I take personally at work = a less stressed me.
  • moderation = a more balanced me

source

See what I’m saying?

Sometimes moderation seems like a ban, a limitation, a punishment (yarn diet anyone? 😀 )  but it’s not.  All it is, is another chance to make some self assessment, focus on what / who is important while reminding ourselves that we’re worth the effort.  For me it’s an opportunity to develop patience (while waiting for answers), an opportunity to continue to pursue contentment, an opportunity to develop my creative skill set, an opportunity to live intentionally and an opportunity to continue to work on becoming the woman I see in my mind’s eye.

Here’s to a moderated 2014!

Happy New Year!!!!!!

52/52

Nicky2 Comments

Well it’s here.  The end of the year, the end of my 52 weeks of blessings posts.  I never thought I’d make it to the end, but I did and I’m glad I made the effort.  It was wonderful while taking a blog break to go through each post.  Each was a reminder of some of the issues I dealt with this year and the things/people/reflections/revelations that helped and/or made me grateful/blessed this year.  I’m not going to lie, some weeks, it was hard to see the sunshine through the thick of the “forest” but it was always there!  Sometimes shining brightly, other times, dimly, but still there.  So to end, this week I’m grateful for:

  • All of you who came along on the journey with me.  Your interactions after reading the posts by email, phone call, text message, and commenting / liking the post mean so much to me.  Your support and encouragement really helped me power through the rough weeks and for that I’ll always be grateful.
  • Actually doing this project.  I learned so much about myself.  My ability to deal with certain issues, my inability to deal with others, my triggers, my joys, my tenacity, my faith, my limitations and in many instances, what the definition of my truth is.  It started as a “project” but it ended up being so much more.
  • Good friends.  My friend T aka “Sunshine” came to visit me yesterday.  She came bearing soup for this cold ridden, sick, congested woman.   She came bearing sunshine through laughter and friendship through support and deep sharing of life stories.  I’m honored that she trusts me to share so much with.  Yesterday was a new beginning for us and for that, I truly am grateful to call her friend and to have her call me friend.
  • Rest.  I came down with a head cold on Christmas day and that killed all the fancy plans I had for the day.  Although my Christmas celebration turned out to be more subdued and restful than I’d planned, it was what I needed and that made it just perfect despite my not feeling so well.
  • Making it through the end of the work week.  I had to go to work on Thursday and Friday and it was all I could do to not sleep in my office after taking cold meds.  I’m super grateful that I was able to not sleep — LOLOL! — and get some work done.  I’m even more grateful that I’ll be starting the new year with a week of well needed vacation.  I’ll be off work until Jan 6th and I can’t wait to enjoy some more down time and prepare myself for 2014!
  • Being able to exercise some patience with my computer.  Got up yesterday to a corrupt login.  Since I didn’t want to mess with the registry, I had to do a system restore.  I’m grateful that I had a backup from the last time I logged in 12/21/2013 so I didn’t lose any files.  I’m grateful for my former IT training that allowed me to fix the corrupted log-in and create new profiles in the event this happens again.  I see a Mac book in my future (g.w.)  I bought this machine in May 2012 and the O.S is already acting janky.  I’m so over P.C. issues but I’m glad I was able to fix it. 😀

I’m not sure if I’ll continue this project into next year.  If I don’t, I’ll definitely find some way to honor 2014’s blessings — I’m just not sure how yet.

I hope you each had a wonderful Christmas, a well-rounded year, and cheers for all the lessons, blessings and moments of gratitude / contentment we experienced in 2013!  ❤