Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Do you pick a word or theme for the year? I started this practice several years ago. It is part of an effort to be more intentional and create the life I want to have rather than just letting life happen to me. It started as a casual effort but became a more serious endeavor once I started using the Dragontree Apothecary Rituals for Living Dreambook and Planner (affiliate link.) I love the thought-provoking exercises in the Dreambook section and the practical application of breaking my goals into tasks and scheduling them in my planner. I always feel as though I am under-utilizing this tool, but I can see clear correlations between the goals in my past-year planners and changes that have taken place in my life. Some of my previous annual themes have been “Coming Home” and “Effortless Ease.” As you might have guessed from the title, my theme for 2019 is ADVENTURE.
Why Adventure?
When you get two fortune cookies within a week in December and both have the word “Adventure,” if you are me, you will start to think the Universe is sending you a sign. (Don’t worry, I didn’t eat the cookies.) My relationship with this word had started a few months earlier when I was moving my baby to college. Have I mentioned that this kid has some severe anxiety? Well, the thought of driving a rental truck full of dorm furniture through a major city was terrifying to put it mildly. In an effort not to freak out my kid, I decided that I would approach my first foray into box-truck-driving as… you guessed it… an ADVENTURE!
A few months later when it was time to move that same furniture home, we decided to rent a trailer to pull behind the Subaru… time for another ADVENTURE! In other words, when something was terrifying but I was trying to put on a brave face for my (young adult) kids, I started calling it an ADVENTURE. (Yeah, maybe I won’t caps-lock it every time, y’all get the point.) So when the fortune cookies brought it up again and again, I decided that my word for 2019 was clear.
What does Adventure mean?
It’s All About Attitude!
As demonstrated above, sometimes an Adventure is really something that I don’t want to do. If I must do it anyway, I might as well try to put a positive spin on it. Yes, I am an annoying morning person and perpetual optimist, so this is kind of my normal approach to things. That doesn’t mean it was easy. 2018 was supposed to be my year of “Effortless Ease” and really difficult things like “drive a box truck” kept coming up. By August, I had gotten the picture that these things wouldn’t stop challenging me, and the only thing I could control was how I responded to them.
Other times, Adventure is something I am very excited to do, such as cooking in my new Instant Pot. A high school friend poked fun at me for hashtagging #Adventure in a Facebook post about my first time cooking with my IP. Trying something new and not knowing how it will turn out can be intimidating. Especially as a mother and a homemaker, sometimes I want things to be perfect. If I say it’s an Adventure, then even if it’s an absolute mess, I can write it off as experience and experimentation.
And Actual Adventure!
Adventure is also about getting out of the house and out of my comfort zone. This doesn’t necessarily equate to death-defying acts, because I don’t have much interest in those. I am interested in going places, spending more time in nature, and trying new things.
In my 2018 Annual Review, I talked about our epic spring break road trip to the Northeast. 2019 will see us traipsing through the deserts of the Southwest in the middle of summer. The timing might not be ideal, but it revolves around my attendance at the Bright Line Eating annual conference. This time my husband gets to come, and he has experience in desert road trips. It will be uncharted territory for me.
There are also plenty of adventures to have near home: hiking, kayaking, art exhibits, and trying new veggies from the farmers market! Will this be the year I bite the bullet and buy a bitter melon?! Stay tuned and find out!
And of course… BOOKS!
I am excited to have a lot of good books ahead of me in 2019. One of my book clubs is mixing up the reading list by providing challenges similar to the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge that I mentioned here. Sometimes we will all read the same book, but other times we will be given a task like “read a book set in a different country.” I am excited to see what everyone picks – including myself!
I find myself craving more fantasy and sci fi. I have been missing sci fi book club because of my tap dancing class, so I haven’t kept up with the reading. I have also been reading a lot of non-fiction. I love non-fiction and everything self-improvement, but if I can finish a few of these, I might read nothing but fantasy for the next three months. I know my self needs a lot more help, but my brain desperately needs a break.
I love that I can always pick up a book (or put on an audiobook) and take myself on an Adventure. That reminds me, we are going to need some good audiobooks for that 53 hour road trip.
What does 2019 hold for you?
Did you pick a theme or word for 2019? Do you have big plans? Are you taking a road trip? Leave a comment and let me know!
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