New Year, New…Mindset

Happy 2019! Each year I like to take time to reflect on how the previous year went. Was it a good year overall? What did I accomplish last year? What do I want to accomplish this year? And the big question, did I learn anything? And an even bigger question, what mindset am I taking into the new year?

To answer those questions, one of the biggest lessons I learned in 2018 was to have more compassion for myself. And to answer the latter, 2019 is my year to be intentional.

Last year for me was a year of growth. I started the year as a married woman. I learned why married people in my circle always say marriage is work but never quite say what the work is. Even though I have a great marriage and my husband is wonderful, (hey babe 😘) I’ve have to grow and stretch in ways I didn’t know I could. I had my baby girl. My pregnancy was tough and uncomfortable from beginning to end. I had to figure out how to balance being a mommy of 2 and still devote purposeful time for my husband. I had to make sure my son was adjusting in a healthy way to all of these life changes. And I had to deal with myself and my mental health. Whew! And that’s just the tip of the growth iceberg. In all those life changes I learned that it was necessary to take it easy on myself. I had to learn to give myself more love, compassion, and forgiveness. I don’t know about you, but I can be a control freak along with being my own worst critic. In being that way I know that sometimes I can set unattainable goals and expectations for myself. And when I miss the mark I beat myself up about it. It was not healthy and it had to stop.

Before the end of the year God began to deal with me about being intentional in the areas of life that mattered most. I committed to start being intentional in my prayer life first. I wanted to give God His time first thing in the morning. It progressed to writing down my specific prayers and thoughts in my Evernote app so that I’d always have something to talk to God about. I believe because I started with my prayer life, being intentional naturally started to spread to the other important areas.

Being intentional means that I am no longer going to give half of myself to my responsibilities and the things that are important to me. I will take time to pray and spend time with God. I will be fully present when playing with my kids or talking to my husband. I will commit purposeful time to rest, craft, and perform self care practices and actually follow through on them.

Being intentional in all these areas isn’t something that happens over night, but the mindset shift can. Being intentional means making the conscious choice to be purposeful and diligent in what matters most to you. So here’s to 2019, and here’s to being intentional!

Live convinced.

What lessons did you learn in 2018? What’s your 2019 mindset? Comment below.