The Year-Up Post, 2013 Edition

Update 2019/03/19: Replaced a photo
Update 2020/01/12: Removed dead links

We are now 11 days into 2013. What have I been up to? Well, let’s take a gander. {:

First off, I must say that New Year’s isn’t that big of a deal to me. I’m not one to party like crazy on New Year’s Eve. I don’t wait with bated breath for the clock to strike midnight. I don’t make resolutions. Most of the time my years just roll from one into the next without much fanfare.

I think the last time I made a big deal out of New Year’s was the millennium celebration. Hubby flew out to visit a few days after Xmas 1999, and we (my mom, my sister, Hubby, and I) spent New Year’s 2000 in Washington D.C. on the Washington Mall. It was a huge occasion, many celebrities performed, and they had fireworks AND a laser show. The Washington Monument was being repaired and had scaffolding all over it, and the lasers bounced off of the scaffolding. I wore a satiny red ball gown and felt like a goddess. It was a fantastic, magical night. {:

Ever since then, though, New Year’s just hasn’t been that big of a deal to me.

Until this year.

2012 was a rough year, and I’m fully embracing the fresh start the new year brings. And with the holidays and festivities and visiting and shopping etc. in December, it’s just not the right time to really process the previous year and get ready for the next one. SO! I’m taking January to really shake off 2012 and settle fully into 2013.

And I actually have resolutions this year! I’m taking my time to write them out and really solidify them, instead of just rushing straight into action only to get burned out in a week or two.

One thing I’ve done to set my intentions for 2013 is to choose a word. Some people choose a single word for their year, a word to define in a very broad way what they want their year to be like. Of course there are variations, like choosing 3 words or a phrase, but I like choosing a single, strong word. At least, that’s what I like right now. If in the future it feels right to choose 3 words, I’ll do that! But this year, it’s just one word, and it’s perfect for what I want.

My Word For The Year is:

CLEAR

My word for 2013 is Clear
My word for 2013 is Clear

I could have chosen “clarity” as my word instead, but I like “clear” more for several different reasons:

  • It’s more about living clearly, seeing clearly, and most importantly, feeling clear. It’s less about being specific about my goals. If I live clearly, the goals will fall into place.
  • I want clear pathways, to be clear on what I want to move toward.
  • “Clear” has a stronger impact and is just a stronger word than “clarity.”
  • I have a thing for 5-letter words. They just feel so round and complete!

To further solidify my goals for 2013, I’ve also run through the Create Your Incredible Year Workbook, Planner & Calendar by Leonie Dawson. It’s fanastic, it’s beautiful, it’s colorful, and it’s super helpful in setting your intentions for the year and then releasing them out into the universe.

I filled out the Workbook last year as well, when the year was already almost half over. I decided that I didn’t want the second half of 2012 to be like the first half, and used the Workbook to do a mid-year do-over. And in reviewing my 2012 workbook, it turns out that I’d accomplished ALL of my goals. The goals I set for myself weren’t very specific, but everything I accomplished fit in somewhere.

Big things I accomplished in 2012:

I also accomplished various other things, as well as a LOT of personal growth and milestones I didn’t blog about. And just think of all I would have accomplished if I had completed my Workbook at the BEGINNING of the year!

And that’s where I am now, starting 2013 the right way.

Onward. {: