Your 2011 Word

[Gingerbug]

Time between now and the end of the year to write a little review on how you lived your word in 2011...

My word was Quest....and my friends helped me out on New Years Day....on taking me on a "secret" quest....I thought we were going grocery shopping...but we went on a road trip

At first my quest was easy because words kept cropping up in my life that seemed to point the way....

And then mid year...a bit of a stall....(lol)

Then when fall got here I decided to focus on a quest each month....and I did that by selecting a "quotation for the month" that helped me focus...

For example one month was "Be a candle to those around you" and so my quest was to strive to be a candle that month.

I'm liking it so much that I might continue my quest in 2012....but I will also pick another word to live too!

Share how you lived your word!!!

 

[girlsinmo]

I like your month to month quotation idea..Will ponder on this

 

[Pam Spaur]

My word is believe. I did some soul searching in choosing this word. I wanted to believe more in myself. In my spiritual life. In my decisions. In other people.

As you all know, I retired this year. I had to believe in myself to get out of debt. To save some more money (not much, but in this day and age, there isn't much $$ left over to save!). Believe in my decisions to do more for me! I have never done that. I always do for others. But I had to believe that I am important, too, and the world will NOT come to an end if I buy something for me instead of someone else. Does that make sense?

So, I have learned to believe in me. I have learned to believe in life and others, just a little bit. I do have trust issues. But I am learning. When I stop learning, my dear friends, it is because I have died!

And that leads me to my word for 2012.....I'll tell you later.

 

[Saquilla]

My word for 2011 is "balance".

I decided I needed more balance in my life as I felt I was at a stage of trying to do everything and be everything to everyone. There was a lot of wasted time and money, and my stress was impacting on my families happiness.

First, I cut my full time work hours by one day a week. This meant I could drop my older daughter's daycare hours, which gave me some quality time with the kids each week, as well as time to focus on our home. I no longer had to squeeze all the cleaning in to a Saturday or Sunday morning. This meant the cleaning was done more often as I wasn't as tired, my kids were happier, and I was happier.

I also balanced my time between myself and my family. Before, I put myself last and often never really got time to myself. I have now made a deal with my husband. For two or three hours each week he would take the kids out and spend some time with them, while I had time to myself to do whatever I felt like doing. I did the same for him. So we get time to ourselves and quality time with the kids each week. We have also committed to a day or so of "couple" time each month (in which the kid's would stay with their grandparents).

Financially, I have started using the envelope system. This means that we have a certain amount of spending money each and we're paying ourselves first before the bills get paid. This also means we have some money going in to a savings account, and we can plan more for home improvements. It's a little at a time, but it is finally happening! For example, we have a much needed new couch on layby, and we'll have enough saved for the TV unit I like in February (no more DVD's in boxes - YAY!!). There was so much money just wasted before - it's great to finally be in control


I am really happy with our new "balanced" life. Our family is so much happier as a result. I'll have to start thinking about my 2012 word!