At the dinner table:
Me: "I have been thinking about my "word" for 2014, sort of a theme or guideline I want to follow this year on my blog."
Son 2: "You mean like a Star Wars theme?"
Me: "No, lots of bloggers do this. It's a word like "faith" or "hope" or "growth" and it stays with what you do and write about all year."
Son 1: *rolls eyes* and gives me the I-can't-wait-to-hear-about-this-no-wait-I-really-don't-care look...
Husband: *rolls eyes* and gives me the what-did-she-come-up-with-now look...
Son: *rolls eyes* and gives me the I-still-think-Star-Wars-would-be-a-better-theme look...
Dog: *puppy dog face* and gives me the are-you-gonna-eat-that-or-what look...
Me: "Alright, since you are all dying to know, I will tell you - what do you think of making 2014 a year to experience new things rather than spending money on buying stuff? I want my word to be experience, but I would love it if we could also experience new things together as a family."
Son 1: "Ugh, I just knew it wasn't going to involve shopping."
Long story short - I was able to convince my family that experience is a good thing. I have been thinking about my word for a while and at first I thought I was going to settle for grow. Growing as a person, growing my business, watching my kids grow into adults; then I remembered that I'm not settling for anything anymore. Life is too short to settle - and there is so much I haven't experienced yet.
I want to take it all in, I want to be all in. Experience new things, stretch myself just a little bit more into the uncomfortable until I find that sweet spot there. I would have chosen experience as my word either way, but I'm excited that my family wants to come along for at least part of the journey. I'm excited that they agreed to spend money on experiences rather than stuff!
So here we are, it's a brand new year and we are planning trips to Portland, Vancouver Island and maybe the Yukon or Alberta... Yes, we're thinking big! And there will definitely be a solo-trip (or two) for me in there somewhere (honey, if you're reading this: I hadn't really mentioned that part - oops).
I hope you will all have a fabulous 2014 and I would love to hear what your hopes and dreams are!