My Word for 2018

A new year is already upon us.  It seems like 2017 just got here.  My word for 2017 was restore.  I wanted to restore my faith, my attitude and gratitude, my health and my family's health, some of my friendships, and some other things that would yet to be seen (i.e. career).  I made some great strides in some of those areas, small improvements in others.

I've started restoring my faith, working on getting the chip off my shoulder, focusing on God, and letting the rest fade away.  I still have moments where I need to pull my head out, but for the most part, I have restored my attitude and gratitude the most.  We have improved our health, and have identified healthy foods that we love and have incorporated more of these healthy meals into our daily lives.  I restored a few of the friendships that were salvageable, and have learned to let go of the ones that weren't.  I'm learning the true meaning of that saying that some people come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.  I'm also learning to be content with it.  As for my career, I did finally decide what I wanted to do.  I made some moves to make that a possibility.  Overall 2017 has been successful in restoration.  

This year as I pondered what my word for 2018 was going to be, one word kept coming to my mind.  I thought more, but the word just stayed in my mind.  Save.  

Save money, the obvious one.  We really need to buckle down and focus on saving money.  There are some things we want to do over the next 3-4 years. Saving for this is a priority.

Save my life.  I'm no spring chicken.  Something I am absolutely not ashamed of, nor am I stressed about.  I have loved being 46.  But if I want to see 66, 76, or 86, I need to stop acting like I'm still 26. 

Save my knees.  This goes along with saving my life.  My knees are ridiculous.  I wrote about this in 2016.  There is very little cartilage left in my knees, and sometimes when I stand with most of my weight on one foot/leg, I can feel the bones clack together when I shift back to the center or the other side.  I need to save my knees and what better way than making sure I eat foods and drink beverages that don't cause inflammation and to lose pounds to relieve pressure?

Save my family.  I need to get my face out of the computer, off the phone, out of books while my kiddos are awake and spend quality time with them each day.  I already know when you blink, your baby is suddenly 26 and a mama in her own right.  I can't afford to miss another moment of the littles' lives.

Save my sanity.  Letting things go.  Not sweating the small stuff.  Taking a chill pill.   Practicing minimalism, in our home with stuff.  Spending minimally.  Living life more.   

These are the overarching themes for Save in 2018.  However, rather than focus on each of these for every day in 2018, I decided to break it all down into monthly goals.  As a family, our goal for January is to eat healthier meals (can you say Whole 30?) and not eat out, except for B's birthday in two weeks.  I'm putting this in writing and speaking it aloud for accountability sake.  As Brother Casey said this morning during his sermon, even if we have a rough day, if we are given another day, we should try again.  So no more failing by March and letting the rest of the year slide.  I'm setting more achievable, realistic goals.  Baby steps.  May 2018 be filled with a lot of baby steps that add up to major improvements.  

Save is my word for 2018.  What's yours?