Mattox Live

Last year I chose a word of the year for the first time. Apparently it was CREATE. I chose that word and then promptly forgot… only reminded of it when it came up on my Timehop a few days ago. And let me tell you… I wasn’t exactly creative in 2021. So perhaps its just as well I forgot.

This year I chose INTENTIONAL and I actually wrote it down. I feel like it encompasses so much of what I resolve to do this year. Be far more intentional in my actions and thoughts. Give everything more purpose and focus.

I can absolutely be accused of letting life lead me lately. Which, frankly, I think we are all a little guilty of that thanks to the ongoing pandemic and climate changes.

“Oh okay. We’re doing this now…: has become the norm. But I like to think that fact has also taught us a lot. It’s taught us all how fluid life is… and how short. The best laid plans will be forced to change, and no matter how staunch you are in your plans and goals… life happens. And you have to just roll with the punches, lest you be run over.

But there is a delicate balance that needs to be found, and that’s ultimately my goal. I always strive to be able to pivot at a moment’s notice, but I also need to be more proactive to make things happen.

Be the squeaky wheel. Be more intentional in my actions.

I started something already this last week that I aim to keep up all year long: a daily journal.

I bought a new day planner because there’s just something I love about that paper book to hand write things in… even though its absolutely my phone calendar that keeps me in check.

However, this day planner opened with a lot of questions and worksheets that forced me to really think about my hopes and goals for the new year. It has a place for my word of the year, which is how I know I’ll remember it this year. There are a few worksheets I’ll work on in the days to come as I settle into the year and my focus becomes less holiday-scattered and more INTENTIONAL.

But I started this week sitting down at the end of each day and making notes about the day. What I did. What we had for supper. If I worked that day, what my tips came out to be at the end of the shift. I’m really enjoying the slow down at the end of the day to reflect.

I am planning on a major closet purge soon. My closet is so jam packed with clothes I just don’t wear anymore, and especially with all the tragedies lately thanks to the weather… and people who have lost everything… its time to purge these things and they go to people who need them. Same for our garage. I have spent too much time going, “I might need that SOME day.” And while, yes, there have been plenty of times that thought process worked out for me. On the other hand, there is a fine line between being practical and hoarding.

I will do more photoshoots this year. That really shouldn’t be that difficult to do, given how few I’ve done the last two years. But I will make that happen versus just hoping it does. And I will write more. Its always been like therapy to me to write, and I think I need that.

I’m a listener. And I accept and love that that’s my place in life, but I need to find a way to set some boundaries there. OR at the very least, I need to take the emotions I carry from other people and funnel them into words on the screen. Something.

Dreams that have been put on hold thanks to the pandemic need to be rekindled. To say we are not where we thought we’d be by now is an understatement. And perhaps I should clarify that we say that literally and figuratively. Time hasn’t stopped as much as it sometimes feels that way.

No, its a new year and time marches on… 2022. Wow, you know? I still remember being in college and “Vision 2020” was a thing at Texas A&M University. And it felt so very far away. I think, honestly, I almost felt like that year would never come. Now its not only come, its in the rearview mirror.

I refuse to acknowledge this year is, “2020, too.” Because its not. It won’t be. We DO have the power for it to not be a redux of the year where everything came off the rails. It’s up to us. It’s all in our mindset. Let’s MAKE it good.