One of my favorite people who I've never met is Ali Edwards. She is an author and scrapbook designer, what she calls a "life artist," which is the title of one of her books, and she has been unending inspiration to me for a couple years, now.
Last year, I think it was, she wrote about the word for the year on her blog. The idea is to choose a word, one word, that you want to focus on for the whole year. Without knowing about this idea, I'd done that for 2007. I started a scrapbook for me, with a layout each month, and the first one, the introduction, was all about joy.
Joy was my word for 2007, and having that focus helped me to cultivate more joy, less stress, in my life. In 2008, I chose the word "energy" for the year, and more than once, having that as my focus reminded me not to waste energy on things that didn't matter, not to participate in the drama people tend to weave into webs for others because it depletes my energy.
My Word for 2009
This year, I'm taking a more practical approach. My word for 2009 is organization.
Why organization?
Because everywhere I look in my home, there's clutter and chaos and lack of any kind of order. The idea came from scrapbooking. I cannot count the times I've been working on a page or a project and had to stop for a half hour or more to search for a photo or an embellishment or whatever. Being disorganized is another one of those energy parasites because it wastes my time and keeps me from doing what I need and want to do efficiently.
I don't want to spend my time searching for a pen, a bill that needs paying, a list I made, the phone book, or one photo that is somehow not in the album with all the other photos that were printed at the same time. I want to spend my time creating, reading, learning, experiencing, writing, being happy.
The Process
Already, even before the calendar turned from December to January, I have begun to research through library books. I bought a book specifically for organizing a scrapbooking space, and yesterday, while Daniel and I were out together, I bought two books from Borders on organizing. I'm setting January aside to read these books, make notes, make lists of projects, prioritize, devise strategies, and maybe assemble some storage solutions for the stuff that needs to be organized.
It's going to take time, this process. But I feel a revving engine of energy as I think about getting started.
I've chosen the right focus for 2009, and I'm excited about making organization happen. I'm looking forward to all the things I'll have time and energy to do when I'm not wasting both.
Copyright 2009 Melissa LaFavers