Welcoming this New Year

I love the beginnings of the New Year. I enjoy the fresh calendars, the new planners, the clean crisp notebooks, and the restructuring of my routines. I enjoy having some time for reflection and goal setting.

In my time spent planning my next year, I have been thinking about 4 major topics. Ways to find clarity and focus, continuing work on healthy habits, including Sabbath, and enjoying my writing routines.

I hope that what I have gathered here helps you do the same.

What do you want more of in 2022?

• What do you hope to experience in this next year?
• How will you embrace calm and peace in this next season?
• Where are some areas that you need to be productive and make major progress?

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Ways to Find Clarity and Focus

We all want to spend our time wisely and make progress on the areas that really matter to us. None of us want to waste our time or energy. But without planning or reflection that is exactly what we end up doing. We each have unique goals to meet at different times in our lives. The way that I spend my time now is very different than it was 10 years ago.

• What are you doing right now that does not work for you anymore?
• What needs to change?
• How can you spend time on the things that truly matter to you?
• What is essential? What could be made effortless?

Here are some articles from my archives that will help:

• 10 Roadblocks That Stop my Productivity

• Creating a Cozy Home Environment – Why it Matters

• Gaining Control When I’m Overwhelmed

• 5 Energy Levels in Homemaking & Working from Home

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Ways to Work on Habits

Habits and routines slowly build the life that we are living. They create a structure to how we spend our days. I want to be intentional about my life and how I spend my time. I do not want my efforts wasted.

We can choose to be intentional about the next year ahead.

• What habits do you have that help you be more effective?
• How do you decide what routines you apply to your day?
• What do your morning routines look like? How do you prepare for the next day?

Here are some articles from my archives that will help:

• Whole Foods & Healthy Habits

• Rituals, Routines, and Rhythms – What’s the Difference?

• How I Read Every Day

• My Counters Affect My Productivity

• My Life in Lists

“How we spend our days is actually how we spend our lives.”

– Emily P. Freeman.

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Ways to Include Sabbath

Ahhh…. rest. I have such a love/hate relationship with it. It is something I write about because I am bad at it. I struggle to understand it. Sabbath is a topic I wrestle with. Living a life that is fully reliant on God, trusting Him with my plans, and holding things loosely. Sigh.. It is so hard!!

• What does Sabbath look like for you?
• Do you take a day of rest each week? When and how?
• What structure do you add to each day to spend time with God and trust Him?
• What will Sabbath rest look like for you in 2022?

Here are some articles from my archives that will help:

• Why is Sabbath Rest so HARD?

• 5 Ways to Find Rest (from an Overachiever)

• The Moving Finish Line of “Done”

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Enjoying My Writing Routines & Habits:

I look forward to writing in 2022! I am excited to develop this craft and this lifestyle. I am very new to this method of sharing my words. This journey began to take serious shape in February of 2021. So I had less than a year of sharing my writing with an audience that is bigger than my personal journals.

As a beginner, I share my process and my failures so that someone else can benefit. If you are working on your writing, I would love to hear what is working for you.

Here are some articles from my archives that will help:

• My #1 Writing Rule & Finding Inspiration

• Making Progress in Your Writing – How to be Efficient and Effective with your Energy

• Stuck in the Fog of Wanting to Write

• 5 Reasons Why Writing Can Feel So Lonely

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As you enjoy having some time of reflection and goal setting let these questions guide you. Be encouraged by your successful moments in 2021. Use your personal growth and your finished goals to push you forward into this next season. 
We are all doing our best to move forward at our own pace. You are not behind.

May 2022 be a year of beautiful moments and growth for you!

Happy New Year! – April

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