Thrive | March 2017 Goals

Mar 5, 2017 | Goal Setting, One Little Word 2017 | Thrive

For Christmas this past year, I asked for Lara Casey’s Powersheets, a goal setting workbook that helps to encourage purposeful goal setting. I got to work making some big goals to work toward this year – healthy living & weight loss, balanced social media usage, focus on prayer and community, and continuing to pay down our student loan debt.

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For each of these large, vague goals, I created action items to help me break these down so that working toward them would be a little less daunting. I’ve made significant progress in just two months so I’m looking forward to what I can accomplish in the next ten.

Here are my goals for March:

  • Continue working through Psalms Day by Day. I started this challenge at the beginning of February when Bailey announced that she was going to be working through one Psalm a day starting on February 1st. I’ve been posting some of my entries, but I won’t be posting through March. If you’re interested or want to see some other inspiration, check out the Instagram hashtag #psalmsdaybyday or take a look through my bible journaling posts.
  • Social Media Free Lent. If you were wondering why I wouldn’t be posting in March, look no further – I’m going sans social media during the 40 days of Lent! I haven’t given something up for the past couple years, but lately, I’ve really noticed that social media and absent-minded phone usage is affecting my time with Jesus and it’s definitely not doing me any favors in the community department either. Since I’m positng this a couple days into March, I can already tell you that it’s not nearly as bad as I expected.
  • Cover others in prayer. Part of my goal to focus on prayer from the beginning of the year included choosing a person or group of people to pray for each month in addition to the things I’m already praying for. This has turned out to be such a fun practice and has really helped me to be intentional.
  • Just keep budgeting. Kevin and I have officially been budgeting strictly for a year this month. We’ve been able to knock out a decent amount of our student loans and I’m looking forward to knocking out more. As we see those numbers decreasing, it’s easier to think about getting to the finish line.
  • Celebrate two years of marriage. It’s hard to believe that we’re already coming up on two years! We’re looking forward to celebrating with a restaurant we haven’t tried before.
  • Shoot my first wedding. A few months back Kevin’s Mom and her fiance asked if I would photograph their wedding – of course I was more than thrilled! Excited to be a part of their big day.
  • Complete Project Life and One Little Word for March. These are staples on my list because I want to make sure they get done each month. I love making these a practice and sitting down once a month to make sure they get done. If nothing else, I know these ones will get checked off.
  • Read three books. Since I’ve been focusing on being more intentional about social media, I’ve been killing it in the reading department. So far in 2017, I’ve read 10 books! Three more this month shouldn’t be too hard.

That should keep me plenty busy for the next 26 days! Just writing this gets me so pumped about all of the fun things happening this month! We just got a new internet provider, so blogging more often is definitely something I’m looking forward too as well!

What big goals are on your list to knock out this year?

2017 – The Year of Thriving

2017 – The Year of Thriving

Jan 2, 2017 | Goal Setting, One Little Word 2017 | Thrive


The last couple years have set me up for this word. For most of my life, things have changed around me every year or so, giving me the opportunity to form a new routine and a whole new set of habits. But as my life begins to look similar each day, it’s allowed me the space to step back and think about how I’m living my life, and how I wish I were living it.

For example – I want to love on my husband well, I want to do my job well, and I want to steward my time well. Sure I’m already doing these things, but am I doing them well? This year has come down to a page full of questions like these that have required me to ask myself if I’m thriving or just surviving.

Based on the content of this post, I trust you’ve figured out the answer.

For the first time, I made the choice to be more intentional about goal setting as opposed to making a list of things about myself that I wanted to change and then hoping to be able to check them off by the end of the year. I asked for Lara Casey’s Powersheets for Christmas and they have truly been a goal-setting game changer.

As I looked at the sheets, I realized that I’m headed in the right direction when it comes to getting where I want to be when I’m 80 – a sassy, strong-willed woman who’s complete being trusts Jesus and the hope of salvation, with a lifetime full of adventures and memories of loving others well and putting family first. I (and oftentimes, we) are making progress in so many ways – we’re chipping away at our debt, we’ve found a church we love, and we’re being intentional with each other and our friendships – so for the first new year in my life, I don’t have a list of new big goals. I have a list of intentions and action items that will act as a shovel to get me just a little bit deeper and closer to where I want to be.

It feels delightful – relaxing and powerful all at the same time.

Thrive first came to me in March of last year as I was working on my collage for a One Little Word prompt. God also whispered it in my ear again in September when I confidently agreed to a task completely out of my comfort zone at work. I have a feeling that thriving is going to have to be a little uncomfortable and leave me feeling a little uneasy, but just like that opportunity in September, I’m going to take it as it comes so I can be ready and available for the next big thing God has in store for me.

This year, I’m choosing to thrive.