2013 - Things I'd like to focus on this year

I have this problem. I have a hard time focusing and growing. I come across SO many good ideas, so many things I'd like to try or improve on... and in trying to do as much as possible, I instead end up spreading myself too thin over too large a surface, and I pretty much get nowhere.

You might know what I'm talking about. I could write a list ten pages long about all the things I want to try or get better at. But there just isn't enough time to do it all! That's part of life - choosing as wisely as possible where you want to concentrate your efforts. Choosing where you want to grow.

I don't like choosing. I wish I could do it all! Experience everything! But then, if we could experience everything, all our lives would be exactly the same. It would take away the uniqueness that makes us US. God knew what he was doing when he designed life to be this way. I'm just not always good at deciding between two good things! It's hard!

Anyway, I say all that to lead up to this. My list of stuff to focus on for 2013. This is going to be a big year for me. I'm finally really starting to emerge as an individual. To feel more genuine and more "me," and less just programmed responses based on what I've been trained. It's cool - I'm learning and growing so much, and I'm excited to really get into this journey and... well, keep becoming.

So, I wanted to be intentional about choosing some things to focus on this year. This was inspired by a similar New Year's post I read over on Abbi's proverbs31living blog.

Here's my list.

Focus - This was on my list for last year, along with three other things: contentment, being more organized, and patience. I grew a lot in those three areas - a LOT - but focus is still really hard for me, so I'm gonna "focus on focusing" again this year and see where I end up. Pretty important, I think, since without first mastering focus it's hard to focus on any of the other areas I want to improve in. Okay, enough of my word play. Moving on.

Gratitude - Similar to contentment but not exactly the same. With contentment I was concentrating on accepting what I had as enough, and not constantly seeking more. (Still have lots of room to improve on this, too, but I did grow a whole lot last year.) This year I want to really focus on being intentionally grateful for things, whether things that I have or just things that I experience or see, or whatever. Appreciating things. (This helps with the whole living in the moment thing, too). One thing I'm gonna try and do is keep a list of things about my husband that I'm thankful for. One per day. Idea stolen from proverbs31living, again. Lol.

Resting - Meditating on God. Reading. Being alone. Recharging. I gotta work on this, because I really tend to get overwhelmed trying to "accomplish" so much.

Simplifying - Getting rid of stuff I don't need. Keeping only things with true value, whether it be the value of beauty, or whether it was a gift and it has value because of the person who gave it to me, or whether it's a useful item that has value in its usefulness.

Boundaries - I'm reading this great book, Boundaries. I'll elaborate more on this in another post. But essentially, taking responsibility for myself and my emotions and feelings, and NOT taking responsibility for stuff that's out of my control.

Being Real - Honesty. Being me. God made me. I have value in my Creator and Savior. I don't have to put on a mask to try to get people to accept me.

Being Intentional - In pretty much everything. My thought life. In scheduling my day. In teaching my kids. I hate looking back on a day and feeling like I just sort of floated through it. (Intentionally resting is different than floating.)

Living in the Moment - Self-explanatory. Goes along with focus but they're not exactly the same so thought I'd list them separately.

So... what is that, eight things? Focus, gratitude, resting, simplifying, boundaries, being real, being intentional, living in the moment. There's my list for the year!

I want to keep going, but I know if I "focus" on too many things, I won't really be focusing on any of them, lol.

So, that's it. For now. I still may make some changes... I haven't given it a whole lot of thought yet, to be honest. (Actually I've updated this post since I wrote that. I've given it a little more thought now and am pretty happy it, I think.) But these are all things that keep coming up in my life right now, so they seem like good choices.

What about you? What goals do you have for 2013?