Happy New Year everyone!!! How were your Christmas and New Year celebrations? I hope you all had a wonderful time spent with family and friends. I know, I did!

Anyway, since it’s the beginning of a new year, it’s time for my usual One Word for the year post. I’ve been thinking of my One Word for 2019 since October. By November I chose one already but kept changing my mind. I was still confused until yesterday morning actually. That is, until I went back to reflect on what really is in my heart. In the end, I went back to the first word I chose – MINDFUL.

My desire for being more mindful stems from last year’s One Word, which was Declutter. We’ve been decluttering so much stuff from our house especially during the last quarter of 2018. As we went through that tiring process (which is still ongoing, by the way) I realized how much anxiety all that clutter was causing me. It was preventing me from relaxing and just enjoying our home. I realized that in order for me to prevent physical and mental clutter to invade my life again in the future, I needed to be more mindful about everything in my life.

For one, I want to be more mindful about the things that gets to occupy precious space in our house. I want to have less stuff so that I can focus on what’s most important. I want to not feel like I should be cleaning all the time because there’s so much clutter. Less stuff, less things to clean.

With less time doing chores, I can spend more time with my kids. This time though, I want to be more mindful about how I spend time with them. I have to admit that I’m a serial multitasker because there’s so much that need to get done. As a mom, sometimes we can’t help but be on autopilot all the time but this does more harm that good. I know that by not giving my kids 100% of my attention, I’m missing out on precious moments. I need to be more mindful about how to schedule my day so that I can carve out time when they can have my full attention. I want to be in the moment with my kids and enjoy it.

I also want to be mindful so I can be more aware of my surroundings, of others and of myself. I want to fully engage with the present, not worrying too much about the future. I suffer from an anxiety disorder and that is brought about by my worries. I tend to over analyze things, causing panic. I want to be more calm and have a clearer mind, to accept my present situation for what it is without judgement for whatever feelings I may have. This way, I will make better decisions based on what’s truly in my heart.

Mindfulness has a lot of benefits and I’m sure that being more mindful will bring about positive changes in me and in my family. So, wish me luck with this!

If you also have One Word for the year, do share what it is with me and why you chose it.