Happy New Year everyone!!!! Welcome to 2018!

How were your Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations? Ours were pretty chill compared to how we usually celebrate. The weeks leading to the holidays were so stressful and hectic for our family so we decided to celebrate without stress as much as possible.

Let me take this opportunity to thank all of you for continuing to support this humble blog all throughout 2017. Our entire family is grateful to you guys! I hope you’ll continue to follow us in our journey especially because I have BIG plans for this blog this year.

2017: A Recap

I’ve been doing One Word 365 for the last several years. It basically means that instead of making New Year’s resolutions, you choose one word that will encapsulate all that you plan to achieve during the year.

For 2017, I chose FOCUS. I chose that word because we had a new baby then and as we all know, babies tend to be a LOT of work. Since our baby, Zander, is going to be our last child, I really wanted to pour as much of myself into raising him, especially in his first year.

Our son, Ziggy, also started first grade. Since I’m the one homeschooling him, I also wanted to focus on that. Our girls were also starting their last couple of years in junior high school. Since they’re busier in school and don’t live with us full time, I had to make the most out of the time that we do get to spend with them.

Basically, in 2017 I chose to focus on FAMILY and that’s exactly what I did.

How? Well, I scaled back on attending blogging events. I scaled back on blogging, period. I also didn’t accept new clients although I continued working from home part time with my existing client. I also scaled back on time with friends and other extra curricular activities.

What did I gain out of it? A closer relationship with my girls, despite our distance and limited time together. I was able to continue exclusively breastfeeding Zander (still on it now at almost 16 months!). I was able to support and accompany Ziggy in his new experience of joining weekly MAPEH classes. Lastly, stepping back career-wise allowed my hubby to step up on his (he was promoted twice in 2017!).

So, I can proudly say that 2017 was a good year for us despite some major challenges. I’m really excited now thinking of what 2018 has in store for us.

One Word 2018

I had a difficult time choosing my One Word for this year. I only finally decided on it last week, actually. It all boils down to my wanting to focus more on what matters most and to me that means getting rid of the things that matter least.

That said, my One Word for the year is ….. DECLUTTER.

Being a certified OC, I like things all organized. These past several years though, we’ve accumulated so much stuff that we’ve already run out of space to store all of them. This means that there are several areas of our house that are just too cluttered already. I want to clear our house of the stuff we don’t use or no longer need by the end of the year. (Will blog more about this in another post soon!)

A quick look in my closet and of my work station at home also makes me stressed lately. I no longer wear half of the items in my closet. My table is filled with lots of papers, planning and crafting stuff (happy kalats!), boxes from PR companies, etc etc etc. They’re all giving me a headache already so it’s time to finally purge.

I’ve also accummulated so many work files in my computer. A lot of them are from years ago. I need to get rid of a lot of them already. I’ve also taken lots of photos and videos of my family throughout the years. They’re all either in my phone, in my external hard drive or in several desktop folders. I want to organize them already for fear they might end up getting lost if I don’t.

I also want to declutter my personal relationships. There are just some people I don’t really connect with anymore. I want to reevaluate frienships. I think there may be some I just need to let go already.

Basically, I need to weed out the unnecessary, the things that no longer make me happy. At the end of the year, I just want to be left with a cleaner and more organized home and more importantly, a clearer head and peaceful heart.

So, wish me luck!

Do you also do One Word every year? Share me what your word is for 2018.