Hello to you, and hello to 2022!
I don’t know about you – but 2021 really went out like a bull in a china shop. We all got the non-covid, non-flu virus that’s going around (and we’re still trying to kick it), and it caused us to cancel plans, feel extra drained, and stay home a lot. That, coupled with all of the Christmas preparations, meant that it has been a bit longer than I had planned to get a blog post up.
With a new year comes a clean slate, so I am ready to dive back into adventuring and exploring with you. So many places to explore, photograph, write up, and share with you, so little time! I sat down last night to do some goal setting and planning, and January is shaping up to be an amazing month.
I did some fun “This or that” polls in our Instagram stories on New Year’s Eve – and learned that most of you go to bed instead of staying up late. Everyone was split pretty even on champagne/sparkling grape juice toast, almost everyone prefers to stay comfy at home for the holiday, and 72% of you do not set a resolution.
I am with you on the resolution thing (I do better with short-term, achievable goals). However, for the past three years, I have chosen a word as my intention and goal for the year. In 2020, my word of the year was “movement” – in both the literal and figurative sense of the word. I wanted to move my body more and be active, and I made some big moves by leaving my non-profit job to stay home with the boys.
In 2021, my word of the year was “magic” – as I wanted some sparks after a very tough 2020. I wanted to focus on finding magic in the little moments with the kiddos, magic in self-care, and the magic in being spontaneous and jumping in puddles or finding a new spot to explore or grabbing ice cream without any advance plan of doing so. My first reaction to reflecting on 2021 is that it was anything but magic (see also – the rough end of the year for us!). 2021 had some tough moments, probably tougher than 2020, but as I clear some of the negative moments away, I can see that I found some magic. Magic like, I don’t know, starting up a small business and finding so much community support. Magic like watching Little find his love of all things outdoors and hiking. Magic like watching Big start at a new school and make friends and tackle this all so bravely. Magic like finally taking those art classes I have wanted to take for so many years. Magic that happened naturally when I was too overwhelmed to make it a conscious choice.
As 2022 approached, I didn’t have to think about my word choice for very long, as it kept popping in my head repeatedly. A chilly walk outside on New Year’s Eve solidified the choice:
OUTSIDE.
I’ll be sharing some more about why this is my choice for 2022 (this post is already a bit too long) during this month, but I wanted to share this with you all should you want to join in! If you need some extra motivation to get the kiddos outside, just comment on this post – as I’d be happy to plan some meet-ups to keep us all encouraged.
If you want to go all-in with this word choice, you could even set a big goal, such as doing 1000 hours outside. I first heard about this online movement a few years ago, and while I’m not sure I need one more statistic to track (all of the peeps that run business websites and social media accounts understand), I might just dive in and make a printable chart for us to see how much we time we spend outside this year.
Okay, 2022. You have arrived, and we hope for nothing but great things for everyone reading this for this new year. We’ll see you outside 🙂
