The Word of the Year 2021

Are you ready for it? This year? The one that we don’t really know quite what to do with or expect from? Nothing really magical happens at midnight on New Years, but we can use it as a reset marker – a time to adjust our focus, our sails, our attitudes. I spent more time laughing and singing on TikTok than I have actually reading the news in 2020. My husband took care of the devouring the news. I checked in when I needed to…which gave me more reason to retreat to laughter and singing…there were days I thought I’d lose my mind. There were days, I’m sure, that my family was convinced that I had. As mentioned in Thursday’s post, my word for 2020 was Clarity. Now that I have that, it’s time to get on the word for 2021…

TACKLE

Tackle. That’s the Word. That’s what I plan to do. Why? Because I KNOW what I need to do…I know what barriers are in my way, I know what limitiations I have, and I know what goals I have. So, the way to move forward now is to TACKLE the hard stuff. The fun stuff. The boring stuff. The stuff we don’t want to do. The stuff that needs to get done. Here is the list in my head of some of the things that I’ll be tackling:

• Social Media. Mostly, Letting go of much of that.
• Home Management
• Clutter; Minimizing
• Virtual School for the kids. (or whatever it will be this week…)
• Routines:
  • Prayer
  • Bible Study
  • Cleaning
  • Self Care
  • Business tasks
• Health
  • Meal Planning
  • Exercise
  • Rest Days
  • Boundaries
• Relationships
  • Intentionality
  • Communication
  • Maintenance

Many of these things overlap. Many of them will run together. But they all have to be focused on in order to get to the end game. What is the end game?

• Quality Family Time
• Early Retirement
• Choice in Activities
• Serving without Limits
• Giving Without Limits
• A House on the Beach

Some of these are simple goals…some are lofty. I feel very strongly, though, that we simply MUST keep these goals in mind if we want to achieve them. We have to face our boundaries and road blocks. We have to accept our realities. We have to set our minds each and every day to make a conscious choice to work toward those goals. Sometimes, those goals will contradict each other. It can be a little tricky to work on quality family time and early retirement at the same time…and that’s were we have to tackle the realities of things that are getting in the way of our vision.

Where to start?

For me, it’s tackling routines and clutter. I have to clear that out and get things set in a manner that is manageable. I’ve already started on some of that. Today, for example, it is the refrigerator. One shelf at a time. Yikes. When there is too much ‘stuff’ around me, I tend to lose the ability to focus and accomplish anything productive. I basically freeze when it’s time to make a grocery list or prepare dinner if the dishes are done, or the fridge and pantry is overflowing. We’ve also gotten into the bad habit of buying things we already have, or resorting to take out because we don’t know what to do with all the things we have.

A clear foundation in the kitchen, I hope, will set the tone for success. Having ADHD, I tend to drive my neat freak husband crazy…when I ‘clean’, I make a bigger mess than we had in the first place. Over the last couple of years, because of other health issues, I’ve had to accept that I have to take household tasks in smaller chunks…so, there’s a little less of that. I have learned to ‘stop’ in the middle and put things back in order, knowing that that it might be a few days (or few weeks) before I get back to whatever it was I started on.

Plans v. Reality

Life, of course always happens when we make the best laid plans. This month, the plan was to get this blog/site in order and map out some intentional, strategic, and organized content for you. That’s still going to happen, just a slower pace. I have also joined a challenge that will be starting in a couple of days, and I don’t know exactly what kind of direction that will take…so, this month may look a little scattered.

We are, as I type, in the midst of planning a double funeral for my mother and father in law…with Covid-19 ripping through our extended family, including their siblings and cousins. It’s quite an overwhelming situation. I also have a son that lives 500 miles from here, so, it’s difficult to figure out what the best thing for him to do is…does he come to the services, or not? It’s really, as many of you know, an impossible situation.

My point is, the gravity of what many of us are dealing with is much more important than any task that we set for ourselves. And, so, I beg you to extend grace in a little disorder over coming days, as I have allowed that grace to myself. But, that’s also kind of the point of my wanting to ‘get my house in order.’

I need to be able to move through the day with intention, and be able to adjust for the unexpected. In order to function in this unbalanced and chaotic time, and to be available to my friends and family, especially my husband, children and mother, this is what I feel must be TACKLED in order for all of us to not only function, but to flourish.

Our children are struggling. We are struggling. Our friends are struggling. Our family is struggling. Our world is struggling.

VIEW ALL TACKLE TUESDAY POSTS HERE: https://themessybunmafia.com/tag/tackle-tuesday/

It is time, friends, to TACKLE the hard stuff and WIN the fight against the chaos and the noise. Will you join me? What’s your word this year?

With this word, let us also remember that God always has plans for our good, and not for harm.