Last year at this time, I was aiming for “a state of peaceful happiness.” I had selected as my word of the year “content.”

I’m not sure I achieved peacefulness in 2022, but I definitely achieved happiness.

(For a refresher on my words of the year, here are the past posts: Balance … Slow … Resolve … Focus … Content.)

The summer was a turning point for me.

Heading into the summer, my mind was full. Ellie was going to be out of school for two months. We would be together every day. How was I going to work?

Then, I decided that we were going to do summer. Work was going to fit in where it fit. I was choosing us.

I’m a big believer in choosing. I choose how I look at situations, how we spend our day, how I feel about things. Making that conscious choice to focus on summer clarified my priorities and opened up so many opportunities for us. If an invitation came along, we said yes. If we wanted to playground, swim, hike, picnic, campout, bonfire we did. We had an amazing time.

That attitude has stayed with me through the fall. I’m saying yes as much as possible and choosing the balance that works for us. Some weeks that means I’m typing madly on my computer the whole time Ellie’s at school and much of the nights. Other weeks, it means I’m outside in the garden or hiking with Cigo or meeting a friend for lunch–and work fits in where it fits.

So, for my word of the year for 2023, I’m choosing “choose.”

I want to remember to choose my attitude, how I feel, how I react, how I spend my time. I’ve found that when I make a choice, there’s an acceptance that I’m letting something go in favour of something else. Being conscious of that helps me to not put (as much) pressure on myself to do everything.

I’m also choosing to build my life based on what is most important to me–Ellie, family, friends, Cigo, this farm, freedom to enjoy it all. It may not be leading to peace all the time, but it’s definitely leading to happiness.

Happy New Year to you. I hope that 2023 brings happiness for you.