7QT : imperfect progress, porridge, and grippy feet

So what's been going on around the ole Ally-sphere, you may be wondering.

Well lucky you, I've got mundane-life-type stuff to share!

...   .1.   ...

When last I wrote, I was explaining my goal for 2020 -- to be JOYFUL. And then telling you what I thought through in order to get me on the right track.

And of course, the very next day, I found myself knee deep in a Not So Joyful afternoon. Sigh.

Working on it. Progress, right? Small steps. But yeah, parenting is hard and marriage can be hard and life is just hard. Those are my wise words for today.

Joyful in 2020, Continued

I have decided that this year, I'm going to focus on being joyful. That's my goal, my resolution, my "one word" for 2020.

Like I discussed before (on this post back here), there are a lot of expectations I put on myself... but joyful is probably the most important (and overlooked) one of them all.

The trouble is...

How??


It's not like I spent all of 2019 thinking, "Hm, I'd like to use today to be a grumpy grouch," or "Joy? What is this strange concept?!" Let's be honest, we're not -- well, I'm not -- inclined towards joy. It takes some work. And I realize that if I just leave this goal up to chance, it's simply not going to happen.

I need a blueprint. And so I sat down and thought about the three things (only three, let's be realistic, here) that I really need to be able to live more joyfully this year. And from there, I came up with three action steps - trying to be as specific as I could - to meet each of those needs.

Joyful in 2020

Well, here we are. 2020. A fresh new year and a fresh new decade.

I've seen the sentiment a couple of times- why all the pressure on setting goals and resolutions on January 1? Shouldn't we just start a new plan or a new idea whenever we're ready, whenever it's just time to make a change? And while I agree that change doesn't follow the calendar and any time is the right time to begin again, there's just something that I find so helpful about having this day; a day that is marked, set aside, celebrated - a day to start new.

To be honest, I've never really been one for resolutions. I have a perfectionist streak - and typically what happens is that if I fail once, I totally throw in the towel and give up. It's all or nothing. Probably not the best way to go about things, but oh well. I am who I am, I suppose. I'm not much of a resolution person, but there was a trend that started a couple years ago where people chose one word for the year. I liked that. Unlike "have quiet time every day" or "exercise three times a week," one word is much simpler, and in my mind, it's much less likely I'll fail.

This year, I knew exactly what word I wanted to focus on.