Since 2011 I have taken the lead of Chris Brogan (author, journalist and social media expert) and chosen 3 words to focus on and guide me through the year. I “think” I picked up on this from Katybeth at Odd Loves Company back years ago when she talked about it but it has been a really good tool for me over the years.

The words I have chosen previously have all been great words. They all held different meanings for me and it seemed like each time I focused on the words for the year I was able to recenter and pull myself back into a sense of purpose. I need purpose in life.

Resolutions have never been my strength. I have problems with “stick-to-itiveness” and always have felt that I have failed when it came to keeping long term resolutions. The one thing that I have stuck to is writing this blog. I am not sure why this has become my “thing” but it has. It started out as an online journal of sorts, a travel diary, and has morphed into more of an addiction. But a good kind of addiction. I have found friends like you who are reading this whom I never would have found before. I have been able to write about my adventures and for some reason a lot of you have stuck around to read about them.

I put a lot of thought into what my three words would be for this year and I think I have come up with some good ones  (at least good for me) again.

Be.   I am keeping this one from 2015 because I think it is important for me to just “be” more.  I did pretty well at times with allowing this to be the center of my life this year but there were times when I must admit I got caught up in  busyness of life and did not allow myself to just soak in the moment that I was in.  I want to be more present in the moment and just BE.  Maybe 2016 will be a bit calmer for me and I can allow myself to focus on this word a bit more.

Steadfast. I was first looking at the word stability because for some reason 2015 was a year of a lot of changes and moves for me.  But it didn’t seem like quite the right word and I hit upon steadfastness as the word that I wanted to use.  According to one definition I found online the word steadfast  traces back to the Old English word stedefæst, a combination of stede, meaning “place,” and fæst, meaning “firmly fixed.” Picture a steadfast person standing firmly in place, not wavering or budging an inch, and you’ll have a good sense of what this word means. Yes. That is what I want to be.  Firm in my beliefs and unwavering.

Intentional.  According to Merriam-Webster the definition of intentional is something done in a way that is planned or intended.  I have felt like this year I have flitted from thing to thing without purpose or intention a great deal of the time.  I would really love to be more intentional in everything that I do. Not that I can not be spontaneous – I still want to be able to do the things on a whim that I want to but somehow I feel like I need to plan more and be much more purposeful in my actions.

My song for the coming year will be one that I continually put on repeat on my iPhone.  It makes me happy and motivates me whenever I come upon an obstacle. “We know that there is no such thing as impossible when we trust in a God of miracles.” Yes!  A million times yes. Thanks to Building 429 for Impossible.