Intentional ~ My Word of the Year Failure and the Lessons I Learned

This week I’m guest posting at Intentional in Life. My friend, Jessica, asked if I would do a post in her Intentional in Life Series, a series about how to be more purposeful as a mom. Some amazing women have shared about being intentional and steps for you to become intentional in different aspects of your life. As you may have guessed, I had my own spin on being intentional.

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Last year I felt compelled to follow the masses and chose a word of the year. The word I chose was grand and eloquent. And though it was certainly not intentional, I failed my word of the year. I failed at being intentional.

Choosing My Intentional Word of the Year

Last year, I realized that my days were swimming out of control. I had grand plans, but only a tiny percentage of them were coming to fruition. Most days I was feeling overwhelmed. I was floundering in each day, and creating bigger to do lists while feeling like I was never getting anything accomplished. I had visions of my children working beside me to learn and create memories. I saw us laughing through the day and building relationships. Of course, I also envisioned a clean house, home cooked meals every night, laundry always caught up, cheerful, content children and, as a bonus, a trimmer me.

So, I worked through my yearly word worksheet and realized I could have it all. It was just a matter of coming up with the perfect word of the year. I had to focus and make it happen. It was so simple. I would be intentional. I would intentionally plan our meals in advance. I would intentionally schedule time with each of my darling children and date nights with my husband. I would intentionally organize our household chores and do a load of laundry every day. Oh, and I would intentionally begin an exercise routine.

My Plan to Be Intentional

I immediately put my plan into action. I began with the most important aspect of the plan…a new planner. I needed a place to schedule my intentional days and weeks and it needed to look pretty. I have a planner addiction that is only rivaled by my curriculum addiction.

The next part of putting my plan into action was to buy magnetic boards for my refrigerator and schoolroom walls. On these, I would plan our weekly meals and our daily chores. Things were shaping up nicely. I then began a plan to exercise. I thought I would tackle my addiction to social media and made a plan to only allow myself to peruse social media while I was exercising. And to keep up with how much I was exercising, I bought a Fitbit.

The final piece to the puzzle was a daily reminder of my plan to be intentional. I ordered a bracelet with three charms that represented important parts of my life. One of those charms was stamped with the word “intentional.” I was now prepared to be intentional. It had taken me three months, but I felt ready to take on the still fairly new year and be intentional in all parts of my life.

Want to know how I failed at being intentional and the lessons I learned? Hop over to Intentional in Life and read the rest.