Well here we are –  another brand new year. It’s Monday and for many folks the first day back to work and real life after the holiday breaks and vacations. If you are like me you’ve had your hands full with holiday preparations, family, illness and crazypants weather. Too much to really sit down and spend any time thinking about setting goals or intentions for this year.

Even though I’ve been up to my eyeballs in all of those other things I’ve been considering what I want my year to look like and what I might choose as my word of the year. Just kind of rolling it around in the back of my mind. One word. You know, one simple word to focus on instead of a long list of resolutions.

I wanted my word to be ABUNDANCE. It’s a good word and follows my word from last year which was CELEBRATE. But another word is being very insistent. It keeps coming to mind as something I need to concentrate on this year.

And that word is HEALTHY. Now, don’t worry, I’m not about to turn this blog into a diet and exercise blog (not that there is anything wrong with that) but I do need to take steps to become more HEALTHY.

Not just physical health either. There is spiritual HEALTH, mental HEALTH, relationship HEALTH and creative HEALTH.

HEALTHY to me means having a balance in all of those areas. Working to improve my physical, mental and creative health as well as my relationships to the people in my life.

So, yeah, HEALTHY.

And I chose HEALTHY over HEALTH because HEALTHY sounds like I’ve already done it. Ta-da! I’m HEALTHY (or HEALTHIER) than I was before. There is no failure here, in fact, I’ve already WON!

So what does this mean?

• More moving – less eating
• Dates with individual friends and family members
• Time for meditation
• Time to just sit and stare off into space and daydream
• Getting back to writing my “morning pages” (Ala The Artist’s Way)
• More work in my yard and garden and more time outside in general
• More making of things because I WANT to and not just for deadlines
• More time for reading – because I LOVE to read
• More time for spiritual practice
• More time for staring at the stars, plants, animals and sunsets

As you can see this isn’t a numbers game. I’m not looking to lose half of my body weight (though I could probably stand to) and I’m not working toward 30  minutes of meditation every day or some other number based goal. I’m simply improving myself and making small changes that I can live with for a long time.

Of course, being where I am here in midlife makes it easier too. No running kids to soccer or band, only Warren and I to cook for – and he’ll eat just about anything, and no time clock to punch (I still have a BOSS – every one of my clients is my boss) but I can work on my own schedule. So yeah, it’s also a good time to work in my overall HEALTH too.

I’m looking forward to a year of better HEALTH and to improving my overall quality of life so I can keep enjoying this amazing life I have.

What things would you do to be more HEALTHY?

Do you have a word for the year or do you make resolutions? Care to share your thoughts in the comments below? I love hearing what you have to say!