#OneWord 2020: TRY

During 2020, I'm TRYing something new!

Every year I have so much I want to accomplish and change and focus on. I'm a super goal-driven person so, to be honest, sometimes the new year makes my head a little dizzy. There are always so many things I want to do and achieve and it's hard for me to focus and be intentional to see real difference, real change. That's why I got into doing this #oneword thing in the first place. Only choosing one word instead of a myriad of bullet points or some lengthly serial comma of a resolution helps me zero in and narrow what I'm working towards. I really think it's helped me. This will be my third or fourth year choosing only a single word as the foundation of my new year so I was ready to change things up a bit. 

 My family is all in a group chat. As this new year was coming, we started talking about what some of our resolutions might be. We always happen to share about this because I think it gets all of our good smart juices flowing. We do the same thing for what we give up or do during Lent. My sister Laura mentioned wanting to be vegetarian for the month of January. My sister Colleen mentioned wanting to get off social media. I felt like I was on board with both these ideas and then I had like 7,493 other things. This is what I do. 

 Later on that night, Josh mentioned that he was thinking about TRYing something new each month as a part of his intentions for 2020. I LOVED the idea- really focusing on one thing at a time. 

 So here we are- 2020 has arrived. HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

 My #oneword for 2020 is TRY. 

 I'm going to be pick one thing each month to TRY or quit doing or do every day, introducing something new into my life or something to start or something to stop. 

 I don't know what all 12 of those are...yet... although I have 7,493 ideas. 

 I'm going to TRY to let the months' focus come to me a bit more organically. I'm not always good at allowing things to happen naturally, but hey! There's another thing to TRY :) 

 During these 12 months, I am going to give all of my effort, all of my best TRY to whatever I decide to be the intention or focus for the month.

 So far, I know that I will be going vegetarian (and mostly vegan) for the month of January along with my sister and Josh. 

 This word TRY not only signals my intention to put effort into some new things, new adventures, new routines, new challenges, but it also signals my continued pursuit for excellence, not perfection. 

 Trying something doesn't mean I'm going to be successful, it doesn't mean I'm going to be great or perfect, it just means I'm going to make an attempt, give it my best. These things I TRY this year might fail MISERABLY... I may even give up or quit or fall flat on my face (figuratively and/or literally). The idea of TRY feels empowering and hope-filled without expectation or pressure for perfect. 

 I'm really excited to TRY some new things and TRY focus on one of those things at a time. I plan to TRY to reflect along the way, adjusting, adapting, and learning as I go. No matter how this might go, I'm looking forward to looking back on 2020 feeling like I at least got 12 things really well accomplished ;) Not too shabby for a year.

 How do you allow for focus when goal setting or making New Year resolutions/intentions?
How do you stay accountable?
How do you stay reflective? 

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