It’s hard to believe it’s the end of my one year journey with my word, nourish.
To keep track of my adventure this year, I’ve been using a traveler’s notebook Art Journal insert from Yellow Paper House that fit right inside my beloved Chic Sparrow Maverick in conjunction with Ali Edward’s One Little Word Course. I love the traveler’s notebook style (as opposed to the one Ali and many other people who take the course choose to do) because of how simple and compact it is. Because I don’t have a ton of space in the book to complete the prompts each month, I don’t have to feel like I need to have more words than I do, because I don’t and that’s stressful. It’s all stream of conscious writing, so it flows out and then I close the book for the month, putting into practice whatever the prompt was from Ali’s class. In addition, I’ve been really into watercolors this year and this journal has been a really great outlet for that.
Here’s how the journal turned out.
January
January was all about getting acquainted with nourish by writing down the definition, why I chose it, action items, and a quote. I love including the pocket with pictures to help remind me what I was doing and how I was feeling in that season. I always get super pumped about my word at the beginning of the year and as that feeling wears off, looking back and monitoring where I am in my goals is always a good tool to help me get back on track. As I completed this portion of the Ali’s class, I was also in the middle of the book The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod, which encouraged me to pause and consider each of the following areas of my life: family and friends, personal development, spirituality, finances, career, marriage, fun, giving, physical environment, and health and fitness. In a one to ten fashion, I rated each one and made comments so that I could compare. This is how I chose the goals on the page above and came in really handy now that it’s the end of the year and I’m starting to think about a new word and new ways to move forward. This was by far one of the most rewarding goal setting experiences yet.
February
In February, we chose a practice to do each day for the month that would, in turn, help us create a habit. Unfortunately, I didn’t watch the prompt video until the second week at which point I decided to choose the act of journaling in my bible as my goal for the month. Since I had been dating them, I was able to go back and mark down which days I had done it. I think if I would have known ahead of time, I would have choose something a little more personal/self-care related, but it ended up working out just fine in the long run. I was still able to knock out 20/29 days – not too shabby.
March
In March, I created visual mood board for my word. This was another time that the smaller size was convenient. I’m generally not the type to have a lot of magazines or things I want to tear up laying around the house, so I was able to just grab one magazine to complete these pages which is much more manageable than the 8 ½ by 11 size that I had done in the past. I totally love how the colors played out in these two pages. Just as a sneak peak, my one little word for 2017 is on this page. It’s crazy to look back and see that march is when my next word started showing up.
April
This month, I wrote about things that make me feel nourished so that I could work on making them a more regular part of my life. Here’s what I wrote: “I feel nourished when I’ve had enough sleep. I feel nourished when my quiet time has been relaxed and slow paced. I feel nourished when I eat foods that are good for my body. I feel nourished when I’m praying. I feel nourished when I’m singing to Jesus. I fell nourished when I move my body. Yoga is my favorite. I feel nourished when I spend time on myself. I feel nourished when I’m blending watercolors. I feel nourished after spending time with family and friends. I feel nourished when I’m being creative. I’m feeling nourished when I take naps. I feel nourished when I drink plenty of water. I feel nourished by the sun. I am nourished by good books and my favorite characters. I am nourished by God.”
May
This month was all about taking some photos of things/places that described my word. This was our first month in the new house, which probably explains why all of the photos have to do with that – our bed, my office, and our roses.
June
In June, we reflected on the process and the progress. At this point, I was already feeling like my word was so fulfilling and really enhancing my growth. The highlights of this page are the three things that I had been enjoying about my word:
- The amount of grace this word encouraged me to give myself.
- The encouragement I felt to treat my body better based on how I feel as opposed to how I look.
- Treating myself with nourishment also inspires me to treat others with nourishment as well.
July
In July, I had to remind myself to slow down. After a little getaway for the long fourth of July weekend, I felt like I was in a rush to get back into the swing of real life. I just wrote myself a reminder and included that sweet picture of my family.
August
August was one of my favorite months and talked about seasons of life – where we are right now, what we are struggling with, and what we are celebrating. I waited until the end of the month to complete this one and I’m so glad that I did because a lot of what was going on revolved around my new position at work. I love that my family and real life is weaved in and out of these pages.
September
This was a big one – a prompt about contemplating rest, pace and joy as well as documenting 30 things that bring me joy. I questioned a lot this month if I really know what rest looks like. A reoccurring theme this year is my pace and how I’m either going 100% or I’m sleeping, even when I’m sick or need a break. I think my Type-A personality requires me to feel like I need to be extra productive and to-do list oriented otherwise I feel like my time is being wasted. One of my goals for the end of this year/beginning of next year is to have a binge netflix session because it’s not something I generally do. I’ll keep you posted on that one.
October
These are my favorite quotes that are related to the word Nourish. Because I always make a pinterest board for my word of the year, I had already accumulated quite a few quotes that I felt related perfectly to my word. My favorite one:
“When we nourish ourselves with good people, projects, surroundings, scenery, love, music, beauty, and self-care, we radiate light into the world and continually sharpen our vision, perception, and clarity all at once. This in turn spreads even more. Remember that one tiny drop can raise an ocean. Keep wanting. Desiring. Doing. Breathing in sweet things.
November
November was fun because I got to try a new technique with my watercolors and tissue paper as well as include one of my wedding photos of just myself. I reflected on what I believe, what I love, what I know and what I’ve learned. Conclusion? I’m pretty dang hard on myself.
December
Finally, a good ole wrap up and another picture of me. We separated out our reflection into facts and feelings and I realized that’s something that is REALLY hard to do.
Facts:
- In 2016, I improved and grew as a human.
- Nourish reminded me to consider how I felt about decisions, events, and feelings.
- Nourishing myself is hard.
- What I want nourishment to be and what it really is are different.
- I am proud of myself and what I have accomplished.
Feelings:
- The term self-care makes me want to vom – so cliché and can easily be overused as an excuse not to try hard.
- I feel great about the goals I completed – there are quite a few.
- You can be nourished and struggling at the same time.
- The act of progress and growth are so much more fulfilling than being perfect.
- Journals have presented themselves as the only outlet for me to clear my head and heart.
- Slowing down and adding time to relax into my calendar is the only way it will get done and now I know that about myself.
- All things are possible with Jesus. (Also, on a related note, I saw a quote the other day that said “All things are possible, but everything isn’t”. LOVE.)
I finished off the year by writing a note to my word and recapping my goals. I used to love crossing things off, but it feels so much more positive to highlight them instead. Even though I still have a lot of room for improvement in the nourish category, I’m so impressed with how much I’ve accomplished.
Each year, I add my word to a list of other epic words that I’ve carried with me for a year. Now nourish can join the ranks of joy (2013), rooted (2014), and adventure (2015).
I can’t wait to share with you what next year’s word will be!