Friday, January 04, 2013

2013 begins a new journey....

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
(Jas 1:22 NIV)



On a late note, I had such fun decorating the den and tree this year!  Due to life circumstances, this was the first time since 2009 we have decorated for Christmas!  The tree and mantel looked awesome!  Steve and I enjoyed celebrating our Savior’s birthday in a quiet way this year that created excitement and Christmas spirit at the same time.  We reconnected with some very dear friends over the holidays and received so many blessings from their stories since we last spoke. 
 

How’s your 2013 going so far?  I’ve gotten off to a very slooooow start!  We did the annual “honeymoon” vacation the week before Christmas, which I must say was lovely!  We spent Christmas at home, then last weekend and this weekend are the extended-family Christmases at each of our parents’ homes.  Lots of travel, not so much cleaning and de-cluttering.  In fact, I will confess the boxes are still stacked in the den.  We have managed to miss the last 2 weeks of trash pickup!  Yikes!  This past week, I’ve managed to come down with Sinusitis which involved three prescriptions with side effects consisting of nausea and dizziness.  This morning, the nausea started.  Wonderful.  I think God has ordered me to “be still” (Psalm 46:10 NIV) and “not merely listen”  (James 1:22) but do what the Word says.  Sounds so easy but is so difficult.  I’ve said for many years God will give me enough rope to tie myself up till I can’t be too busy to sit with Him, listen and then obey His Word and Will.  So today is devoted to being still, listening to His soft whisper and then acting on the instructions placed on my heart.  My first goal for 2013 is to spend more time in the armchair of my heavenly Father.  Being too busy certainly does cause me to neglect the most important relationship I have in my life.  Spending time in the Father’s chair is restful and I always come away feeling refreshed.


I totally detest New Year’s resolutions but I do need goals for my life.  Everyone needs goals!  Goals provide the foundation for work, creativity, and even fun!  Over the last several years, I’ve read several Organization self-help books.  David Allen, Neil Fiore, Peter Walsh, Sandra Felton, FlyLady, and Emilie Barnes have been my organizational resources since the early 1990s!  Scary, isn’t it?  I would like to become more organized in all areas of my life: spiritual, work, creative, and home, but feel accountability helps.  I’m going to begin my journey for 2013 to become more organized in my life areas.  I tend to be a procrastinator, a worrier, and a perfectionist.  Put all those characteristics in one body and the results equal one tired over-stressed woman.  Neil Fiore teaches that free time should be scheduled first in our calendar with all other commitments being scheduled around the free time for guilt-free fun.  While this might work in theory, I am my own worst critic and bestow enough guilt after the fun is over.  The house is still dirty; Notes for the next paper are lacking; I have client notes to type and creative time has slipped by again!  Why, I might have written the great American novel while I was walking with my husband or hitting that last thrift store.  See what I mean about dishing out the guilt?  I feel so guilty on the weekends when my overactive hubby “catches” me sitting down when he comes in from working on a project that I jump up from my chair to push something around in the kitchen.  Not restful. 


While all the previously mentioned authors have devised wonderful systems, I just can’t make them work.  I spend so much time in organizing a household control journal, or chore cards.  I could have cleaned a room in that amount of time!  Well, time to stop procrastinating… my goal is to work in one room in my house each week to organize and clean it thoroughly.  I’m not good at 15 minute increments so I need to allot a time segment of about 2 hours to really begin the project.  Since I’m working full time I’ll need to do most of my project on the weekend but only on Saturday.  Saturday also needs to contain some time allotted for fun!  I get so bogged down when fun and creativity are absent from my life completely! 


My third goal for this year is to write more.  This means I will be blogging here more (not promising a weekly blog, but that will be my goal by 2014).   I also have a couple book drafts that keep whispering my name. 


So now that I have three major goals in my life for the New Year, I’m going to stop for now; otherwise, I’ll start writing resolutions, such as losing weight, exercising more, reading a book a week, yada, yada, yada…. To be continued with my first steps towards my 2013 goals!


With a Happy Heart,


Leigh Anne Haygood






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