One Word For 2016

Happy New Year!!

Now that I have listed my goals for this next year and they aren’t those goals easily checked off in one day, rather goals I will have to continue to keep and work on daily. This year I didn’t want tons of goals. I didn’t need a big list of what I should accomplish for the year.

I have done that in the past, and I have been able to check all of them off the long list, but this year I wanted something different. Goals that may be a little harder to obtain, but at the same time won’t require more and more energy to do them. I have spread myself too thin since college. Always putting more and more on my plate. There’s pressure in society to do more, be more, make more in order to be success. Society measures success with more. More money, more lists, more activities, more house, more car, etc.

I am done measuring my success by society’s standards, because the truth is, I will never be enough, never have enough, and never be able to do MORE enough. My success is measured in Kingdom minded settings and this makes life less stressful & disappointing. What I did for my family and my Heavenly Father matters most, because with them I don’t have to measure my success with how much I do. I don’t have to constantly do more. I am enough, just the way I am, even if there’s less money, less house, less car, less vacations, and less lists.

So for my 2016 I have two words [because I couldn’t chose just one] to describe my 2016, or to strive for in 2016. My two words are J O Y and L E S S!!

J O Y – delight; bliss; expression of such emotion

Happiness is a feeling, so I didn’t want to be happy more, because as we know feelings are fickle. They are ever changing. Happiness is fleeting.  I want J O Y even in my challengers and turmoil. Even in my sadness and grieve. Just as happy is a feeling, so is sad. There may be days I am sad and days I am happy, but no matter what I want to have J O Y and to be J O Y. Rick Warren says it best:

“Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in every situation.“

Praise Him, even when I rather complain. Praise Him even when my situation seems bleak and defeating. Praise Him even when I feel lost and broken. Because God has a bigger plan. His ways are higher than my ways, His thoughts higher than mine. He sees a trial as a blessing. With every challenge comes a promise from Him. So we should be welcoming challenges, knowing on the other side we have a blessing and promise. Knowing that it’s hard not to welcome J O Y. It’s hard not to praise Him.

L E S S – lower rank or importance; not so much; not as much

There’s one thing I don’t need, and it’s more. More stuff, more stress, more worry, more complaints, more sadness, more debt. L E S S will become a one word mantra for me throughout this New Year.

I want L E S S worry and stress, L E S S complaining and L E S S debt. More importantly I want to do L E S S of what hurts me or my family. Spend L E S S time focusing on what has no Kingdom purpose. L E S S to-do-lists and more time with my family, friends and God. L E S S me, and more of Him.

Piles of stuff won’t ever make us happy. Material things won’t be going with us when we leave this world, so why do we value them so much at times? I can get into a bad habit of wanting this new gadget or envying what others may have, that I think would make my life better and easier. The truth is L E S S stuff makes my life easier. I want to learn do be content and have J O Y with L E S S material things. To hold dear what’s really important in life.

I am going to say “yes” to everything L E S S, stop spreading myself so thin. Frankly I am tired of performing and pretending, tired of going 100 mph all the time. So many areas of my life need L E S S.

So here’s to a great 2016, with L E S S doing and more J O Y.

One Word for 2016, One Word to Live By via @wholesomelybry #2016 #newyear #2016word Share on X

[AND yes I realize that it’s not just ONE word for 2016, but TWO]

Until Next Time Be Whole and Be Fit

Do you have a word for 2016?