My 2018 Word: Engage

14-Day Free Trial

I joked at the beginning of this year that my year wouldn’t really start until January 15 because I was going to enjoy my free 14-day trial. Free from diet and exercise, free from focusing and buckling down, free from getting it done. A few days ago I started doing some necessary clean up on the back-end of my site and social channels. Monday I started back into my diet. (Blame the sappiness of this post on my lack of carbs.) I went to the gym and well, now I just couldn’t resist writing a post. Trial over. Game on. It was a great break, but I love writing, I love this community and I am ready to be back!

My Word

While I was spending some time free from the things I should have started on the first, I was thinking about what I wanted my 2018 word to be. Last year it was above. I liked the word, I liked how it played out throughout the year, but how would I continue that momentum? My winter break was spent enjoying the company of family and friends. I was truly trying to make more of a conscious effort to be more present throughout the holidays and loved it, so I knew I wanted my word to have something to do along those lines. Then, one day, I was scrolling through my feed, looking at photos of friend’s cute families enjoying Christmas or friends who were committing to a happier, healthier New Year. I was smiling and even making comments in my head such as, “Aw! Such a beautiful family,” or “Yasss! Get it! So proud of you.” I seriously was thinking these things in my head, but noticed I wasn’t putting forth the effort to like their photos or make the comments to them. I decided then that my word would be engage.

Thanks, Jean-Luc!

Practice Makes Perfect

It’s harder than I thought. Perhaps not so much in my day-to-day personal interactions, but online yes. I’ve also decided to keep a more routine/slightly minimized amount of time on my social accounts, so trying to maximize that time has been a bit of a struggle. Some days I remind myself to slow down, and take the time to truly engage with others instead of smiling at the photos and posts while swiping.

In real life, I also remind myself to slow down. We have always held a strict no screens at the table policy, but I try to follow this same rule more of the time. It’s easy to check my phone first thing in the morning, but now I wait until the kids are at school and I sit down with my coffee. It’s easy to check email as I’m helping my my teen with his homework, or as my little one is watching her favorite Disney Junior show, but now I fully engage in those activities. It’s amazing at how much she wants to talk about the episode as it’s happening or how much better he is focusing if I am. I’m not perfect. It’s not a perfect idea or process, but I am working hard at taking those little steps to try and be more engaged. As our baby turned 5 this year, those last firsts are happening more and more each day and I realized I won’t regret missing a new meme or email. I’ll regret missing each and every little unscripted, unplanned magical moment of life. Time goes way too fast and well, just thinking of those memories makes me a blubbery mess. Bring on the ugly cry.

If you’re still reading this post, thank you. I’ve engaged you way too long. Have a wonderful and blessed new year. I can’t wait to see where 2018 takes us.

-Lauren