I rudely reminded everyone last week that the year is a 1/4 of the way gone already. I only speak the truth. At the beginning of the year, I chose 4 words and told myself that I would focus on each for a few months to make a few lifestyle changes. Since I spent the last few months focusing on the word clean, it’s time to move forward.
My second word for the year is connect. I had so many things in mind when I picked this, but none of them involved plugging a cord into the wall, so that’s awesome. It’s time to set a few goals for myself.
Connect: April – June
– Be the best wife ever. I am such a lucky girl and I am married to the best guy. I want to remember to be grateful for that every day. Maybe take a few weekends off from phones and do the things we love doing. Take a few weekend trips. Go on a few dates. The fun stuff.
– Send letters – like real letters in the mail. Hopefully our friends and family remember to cheek their mailboxes (HOLLY). Not just letters, but emails, FaceTime dates,
– Become a part of our community. Doing a little volunteer work and getting to know our neighborhood a little bit more.
– Be present and intentional during social outings. I spend lots of time distracted by my phone or the things going on around me and I’d like to be a little more present.
– Meet new people. It might be a little scary, but it’s also exciting to add a few awesome people to the roster of awesome in our lives.
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– Be a good neighbor. This is something I was super good at when we owned a house, but apartment living is different. I’m learning a lot about apartment “etiquette.”
– Appreciate our friends and make sure they know that.
– Support some local businesses and other projects that friends have been working on.
– Spread the love and practice random acts of kindness. Funny that as I’m making this list, another blogger posted this post and it says it all perfectly.
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So there you have it, connect. Let me know if you’ve heard of any good books or any good tips you have. I’m extremely excited about these goals. Now that spring is here, people are outside and the it kind of feels like the world is alive again. Time to get out there and be a part of it. Cheers.
Yes! I love all of these goals and I love this 4 words idea– I wish I had done it at the start of the year! I've been thinking a lot about random acts of kindness lately as well! It's so easy to get caught up in our own lives and so easy to forget how easy it is to make an impact on someone else's day in a positive way.
I have a feeling your second word of the year is going to be a success! You're so good at connecting with people already! Now if we can somehow figure out how to add each other to our already awesome IRL friends list in a couple weeks…..
i love this so much. i fully support being *present* when out with friends/in social gatherings. i have my phone on me in case my family needs to reach me but i will not check social media or take pics of my food or whatever if people are around. i do think that smart phones are why quality time with friends/others have declined; people just pick up their phone and check stuff that's not even important instead of being engaging and interacting with humans. so i make a point to not do that and enjoy the time i have with the people i'm around.
-kathy
Vodka and Soda
I definitely agree on the being present part. I mean, I agree with everything on this list, but the being present part is probably one of the easiest/hardest ones to accomplish. It's scary how quickly we can disconnect by being too connected (to social media,etc.)
I love this. I've just started leaving my phone in my bag on purpose. It's great.
Volunteering really connects you to a lot of things – yourself, a cause, the community. I love it.
Connect is such a good word to focus on!
This is wonderful, Steph" I've definitely trying to be more "in the moment" and not be glued to my phone when out in social settings. I'm digging these posts,
Apartment living is def a lot diff. Not all of my neighbors seem to know that. -_-
Very nice. Looking forward to reading your words tomorrow on my Stephanie's blog!!!!
Goddess speed to you! #connect
Love SMD's Momma