Word Of The Year

I always feel late to the party with this trend, but I also feel like waiting, praying and being totally conscious of what I need in life is pretty important and not to rush things - yeah, I'm still okay with rushing some things, like the decision to eat tacos for dinner. 

Last year my word was Trust.
Trust God, people, life and all of the experiences I was having and to just let it go and trust that it would be okay. I'm not saying that it was all hunky dory, last year was full of challenges that I hadn't experienced and some that I'd been waiting too long to fix. What I did last year by trusting helped me realize that I don't always need to fear the future or that somethings going to go wrong. That goes against every fiber of my being. Things go wrong, life can be too good to be true and it can all come crashing down, but I was able to trust that God had me.. that Eric wasn't going to up and change his mind about me and that even the crap I was wading through was worth it.

This year started with me signing off of Facebook and just saying "nope" to constantly being connected. It has thrown a few wrenches in my way, did you know how many people rely on fb to communicate? It's kind of gross. With all of that I really started thinking about signing off completely, but rather than doing that, I'm setting my phone aside. I'm spending my phone time during nap time, breaks and after Eric has gone to work -I struggle with this one.

So is my word unplug. Not in a going off the grid way, at least not yet, but in the way that I need and want to spend more time with my family, God and in the quiet. I keep looking at kids constantly connected and I can remember when that wasn't possible.. when you hung out, under a tree, reading books or playing games. So that's what I'm gonna try and do, I'll unplug for the night and for the weekend and I'll come back with memories that don't include massive updates on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.. though I might have some of those this year.

What are your words and how do you plan to put them into action? 

January Goals

Anyone else love setting goals? I'm a fan of setting the simplest goals in the world, forgetting, remembering and then slightly accomplishing them. Instead of setting resolutions for the entire year, I decided small and attainable goals for every month are what's up and then I saw some other bloggers writing them down in a public space and thought "well that looks like fun" and here I am.

January Goals:

- Unplug during social times 

- Workout at least 2-3 days a week

- Read 30 days of my Savor devotional 

- Accomplish two goals I've set for photography

- Wake up early everyday

Small goals, real things that I can do to help myself lead a better life. I only get so many years and I've spent too much of it on the sidelines waiting for things to happen, so here's to January being filled with fun, grace, growing and me becoming an even bigger morning person. 

Facebook Break

My name is Acacia and I signed out of Facebook and deleted it from my phone and I would like to now explain why and how it feels. 

WHY: 

Either you live under rock or you are completely separated from the world to not know that our world is in constant turmoil. From racism to presidential elections and all of the terrorist and terrible acts in between.. one can't help but feel anxious. We are constantly being updated on the bad things and then there's the comparison factor. 

Oh I see so and so's husband bought her a full frame camera, bag AND 45 carat diamond earrings. Great, my life doesn't compare to that. 

I see how great it all is on Facebook, Instagram and inside blogs and I can't help but want to run away crying because I feel inadequate to them. I mean, if you get gifted a freaking brand new Lexus and are complaining about it, I want to punch you. That's not very Christian of me, but it's the truth. But it really started on Christmas as I watched the soon-to-be niece and nephew open their modest amounts of gifts and then pulled up on Facebook to just see a sickening amount of gluttony. 

Your kids do not need 10+ "big" gifts, they need a couple books, a toy and maybe some clothing and a giant box, lets be real. Between that and the constant negativity, I needed to get away. 

So I did. 

And guess what? 

I don't have any shakes, my mind has been less concerned with others and more connected to what's going on right in front of me. 

Instead of spending my lunch breaks doing mindless surfing on the internet I've actually been getting things done! I managed to write out that business revamp I'd had sitting on my desk for the last 2.5 weeks and start getting that going, and I spend dinners out with Eric and not on my phone. 

I also haven't posted to Instagram as much, twitter is my friend again -I'd been ignoring it- and yet I'm not fully consumed in them like I was with Facebook. I'm not refreshing and refreshing to see what's new and what terrible Buzz feed video I can watch. I forgot they existed for a minute. 

I will sign back in around Feb and see how it goes, mainly because I have a re-launch for my photography pricing so I kinda need it. So stay tuned to that, but don't expect me to be re-downloading it to my phone.