In the past few years I’ve chosen “simplify” and “fearless” and those words were perfect at the time. I don’t think I chose a word for 2013 but I seemed to accomplish a lot so I’m fine with that.

It always takes me a while to decide and I never put the pressure on myself to choose something by January 1. I’ll continue to simplify and confront my fears. My new word feels right and appropriate for all the areas of my life and I can’t explain how it sort of just popped up, but it did.

“MOVE”. That’s my word. For my 2 friends who might still read this blog, I’m not referring to my household. I’m staying put in my 1800 sq. ft farmhouse. I love it here. But in nearly every other category of life, I need momentum.

Mark and I celebrated our 20th anniversary in 2013. That’s all good and I’m grateful to be with him but in some ways, I feel like we’ve let life happen to us.

When you’ve spent 18 years in a house and it doesn’t feel that much different than when you moved in, it can be a little discouraging. I’m determined to “move” on some big house projects so it functions better for our family. With the help of a local contractor, all of us are moving within the house. That plan to make our house more livable and functional for us includes creating a 4th bedroom for our family of 6 without an addition. We’ll be moving people and stuff from room to room. That will undoubtedly be the biggest change but at the end of it the girls will each have their own bedroom and the boys will have a bigger room. The boys don’t mind the room they’re in but it drives me crazy. Their current room will accommodate one person (Kate) much better. Hopefully, the new family room will comfortably seat more than 3 people.

I think it was last year at about this time when I had plans to finish painting the trim in my bedroom (and the rest of the house). Yeah, that still isn’t finished. I’ll be moving on that project. I think I’ve had blue tape on my bedroom wall for an entire year (unless it’s been two-yikes).

I literally haven’t committed to exercising since Hannah was born….16 years ago! I intend to do something to move and sweat on a regular basis. No excuses. If I need shoulder surgery as a result (one of my excuses), I’ll deal with that.

I’ve committed to writing 500 words a day in order to get moving on writing again. Last summer, I accomplished a goal of writing an ebook. I was able to write nearly every morning before the house woke up. I published the book on Amazon on August 29 and two things combined to sabotage my writing for a while. First, I was so sick of words I couldn’t think straight. Second, school started and Mark was up early for a class 5 days a week. I discovered that I have a hard time writing with distractions. It’s also hard for me to write at night.

I’m sure there are other areas which will benefit from some movement as well. I need to move money and move clutter out of the house and garage (that’s a given). I’ll keep you posted.

What are you doing for the new year for a fresh start? Choosing a word? Setting goals? Making resolutions? Starting a new habit? (Speaking of my new habit…I forgot to discuss this with Mark but I’ve been writing down my expenditures. I’m even including mileage to and from tennis -40 miles round trip-so we and Luke have a better idea of the cost). Sorry for the digression…I’d love to hear what you’re doing.

If you want to join the 31 day 500 word a day challenge, head on over to Goinswriter.com to get the details.