SUBSCRIBE BELOW TO GET POSTS BY EMAIL

Enter your email address:

Monday, January 7, 2013

Savor.


The last of the Christmas decorations made their way to the attic today, so I suppose it's finally time to tell you about my plans for the New Year. In high school and college I liked to make grandiose resolutions each year. Things like stop eating chocolate and be less prideful were in regular rotation on the resolution playlist. This eventually gave way to the oh-so-more attainable goals I set  in my twenties. Things like: spend more time in the Word, make cooking at home a priority and work-out four times a week were pretty typical over the past decade.

Ushering in the New Year as a mature woman of 30, I felt that my New Year routine was again in need of tweaking. This year I've chosen a word to live by. I'm sure you've seen this around blogland- folks picking one word they can implement in multiple arenas of their lives and in so doing become better versions of themselves. 

My word for 2013? 

Savor. 

This can manifest itself in so many ways, but I'm choosing to focus on the following:

Savor my children. They are at incredibly precious ages and yet I pine for the future - when we start homeschooling or when they go off to school, when I don't have to referee toddler wars, when diapers are not a line item on our budget, when they rise up from the table and call me and the food I have prepared for them blessed. I want to savor the giggles, the chubby fingers, the imaginative games and yes, even the neediness. I know that one day these will all be cherished memories - the rough edges of monotony and physical exhaustion rubbed smooth as the years flow past them. 

Savor the moment. This goes hand-in-hand with savoring my children, but extends beyond them. More and more lately I find myself picking up my phone to check Instagram or Facebook for absolutely no reason. I might be in the car coming home from church (B Daddy driving obviously) or watching the kids ride bikes and I'll mindlessly check in with some social media site. I've noticed an addict-like tendency to check my phone when B Daddy and I are watching television or just hanging out. It sucks the potential out of the present moment like nothing else. I find social media amazingly useful, so there's no way I'll be giving it up, but I want to be intentional about making time for it and not letting it worm its way into the margin of my day. 

Savor the flavor. Like many of you, I'd like to shed a few pounds in the coming year (hey maybe I WON'T get pregnant this year! That would help.) and I think the best way for me to aid that process is to focus on the food I put in my mouth. I can put AWAY some food y'all. It's kind of embarrassing. Going out to eat with girlfriends I'm the one eating the bread in the basket, cleaning my plate AND ordering dessert. That I do not share. I'm hoping that taking time to focus on the flavors and the textures of what I'm eating will slow me down and help me make wise decisions. If all else fails, there's always the trip to the beach with a bunch of 16 year olds to motivate me as well. 

After a whopping six days I can report that I really like having a WORD rather than a list of goals. More importantly, B Daddy likes that he knows my word too. 

"Savor" is now code for, "are you really checking your Tweet feed while I talk to you?", "should you really be eating ice cream straight out of the tub?" and "I know that Blue Eyes just threw up in your hand, but one day you will look back on this moment and laugh." 

Do you make resolutions each year or have a word for 2013? Whether you do or don't...here's to hoping you savor what life has in store for you in 2013. (And also that no one throws up in your hand this week. )


6 comments:

  1. I LOVE this approach to resolutions! I can so relate to all the things you want to savor...especially PUTTING THE PHONE DOWN and savoring the moment. Nothing new has happened on facebook in the last 5 minutes! Good luck with your word, I'll have to remember this approach next year....I always do resolutions/intentions for the year and LOVE setting them every year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I get all geeked out about picking my word, my resolutions, my goals. It would make my heart go pitter patter if B Daddy wanted to have a date night JUST to talk goal-setting. Nerd!

      Delete
  2. I shared your word & thoughts on Savor tonight in small group. Everyone truly loved it and could relate. We also talked about tangible ways to keep the phone further away.

    Oh, and I just read through your 30 by 30 list. I can help with #16. My car is a stick.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very cool! Savor is my word of the year too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very cool! Savor is my word of the year too.

    ReplyDelete

 
site design by designer blogs