Every year I always choose a word of the year. I don’t do resolutions, I change habits and behaviors to reflect the word I have chosen for the year. This year I have two for 2021: Enlighten and Reset.
Why two? No, I’m not trying to be over ambitious or overachiever. I just feel like these two words go together with what I want to accomplish in my life this year.
I ended 2020 reflecting on the year. You can read the entire post here. In 2020, during a year of great change in the world, I found truth about myself and those around me. I learned a lot about what I need in my life to be happy. I found what/who brought me joy to my life and who/what didn’t. Thanks to all this, it set me up for 2021, where I plan to enlighten and reset!
Why Enlighten?
Working on myself
Google defines enlighten as “give (someone) greater knowledge and understanding about a subject or situation”. If I had a crystal ball and knew what 2020 was going to truly be like I probably would of chosen “enlighten” for the year. (Instead I decided on something different, you can read it here).
During 2020, daily life changed as many of us knew it. Our normal was changed; we had to find a new normal for our everyday lives. We found ourselves socially distanced from people we loved, ones who brought us support in our everyday lives. We were forced to focus on ourselves and those in our immediate care.
If you are anything like me, you really did this. I really sat back and focused on so much in my life. My life got flipped around. Due to the fact my husband works on the frontlines, exposed to a deadly virus everyday, my storm is different then everyone else’s storm. And that’s ok. I’m ok with it because it gave me a chance to recognize and change a lot in my life. Go check it all out in my last blog post here.
So this year, I am going to enlighten myself on me! All those things I found out about myself and my life in 2020, I’m going to dig in deeper. How? I plan on reading more self-help, self-focus books. I want to learn about my true self, how to work on myself. I plan on reading more non-fiction books and articles about topics I find interesting.
If you are reading this, you are more likely a mom. Probably between the ages of 25 and 55. For many of us we believe we are who we are once we are married and have kids; it defines us. It’s our life; I’m a wife to (enter spouses name) and a mom of (enter number of kids). But that’s not true! Just like our kids continue to grow and learn each year of their lives, we as adults do too! And trust me, we are never too old to learn and change!
I’m a mom of 3 kids, one who is an adult herself! Yet, I am still learning who I am. Each year I will change and grow more. Each year I need to enlighten myself. Find what makes me tick, makes me happy, brings me joy. As a parent our kids begin to grow older, and while they will always need us to be their mom, they won’t always “need” us. Changing the way we live our everyday lives.
Enlighten my faith
Enlighten is also defined as “give (someone) spiritual knowledge or insight”. This is a big one in my life. I am a Christian, it’s the foundation of who I am as a person. Each year I find a new way to grow stronger and closer to God. This year I will bring spiritual knowledge to myself. I have a number of devotions and studies I found that I want to do. I joined a group of amazing spiritual women and together we are reading the entire Bible, front to back, in 2021. I want to grow in my spiritual knowledge because I will never know everything and secondly, God, being the most important priority in my life, brings me great joy!
Enlighten others
And finally, enlighten is defined as “shed light on (an object)”. While this is similar to the first definition, it’s a bit different in my world. I want to share what I have learned about myself with others. As we begin to welcome the outside world back into our lives in 2021, I want friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances to understand the real me. I will be sharing with the world who I am now. I think it’s important for us to be us, at all times. We tend to try and make everyone happy, changing our likes and dislikes like our clothes, depending on who is around us at the time.
No! Not anymore! I want everyone to know, I am comfortable with the me I am. If that makes them uncomfortable, then so be it. Maybe it’s time to part ways! I’m not trying to be harsh to anyone in my life, but I think it’s important for me to be happy first!
Why Reset?
No, I am not overachieving for the year by choosing a second word. When I sat down at the end of December and wrote the last blog post, and then thought about what I wanted in 2021, the word reset kept popping up in my head. I think God was trying to tell me something! So, I researched and prayed and realized yes, Reset fits what I want for myself in 2021.
Google defines reset as “set again or differently”. Now how does that not go with enlighten?!? And how does that not flow from 2020 into 2021? I was forced to work on myself in 2020. Find what makes me happy, what makes me tick each and every day. Now it’s time for me to reset my life, set it with all the things I learned in 2020. Going forward my life will change, adding and taking out things, making sure everything in my life brings me happiness. I’m resetting my life!
I feel as a mom we need to reset our lives often. Each season of parenthood changes who we are. If we don’t recognize these changes, reset our lives, we tend to find ourselves lost and unhappy. I have always believed it’s important to step back and take a good inventory of our lives, things that have changed or ones that have become stagnant. We can’t make those around us happy if we ourselves aren’t truly happy! Resetting throughout our lives bring us that happiness, and then we can continue to spread it to everyone else around us.
We can’t make those around us happy if we ourselves aren’t truly happy!
Over the course of this year I will share more about these words and how I am making them work in my life. I think it’s important for us to share with others. Our role on earth is to support one another. Sharing my story and journey will hopefully continue to help others. Life isn’t always rosy and happy like social media makes us feel it is. I think it’s important to help others know they are not alone in their struggles through life.
Find your happiness in yourself.
Albert Camus
Join me on my journey this year to improve my life even more! To continue to enlighten and reset myself and my life. Join me in working on myself first so I can give myself to others who need me in my life. Join me in creating the life we are meant to live – one focused on ourselves first – others later!
Take a moment and pray for yourself. Let God tell you what you need to focus on in 2021. And then let me know below what your word(s) are for the year. Together let’s make 2021 our best year yet – despite what is going on in the outside world! Here’s to 2021, the year of enlighten and reset!
