My Word of the Year - Wholesome

Summing up 2019, with the attitude I want in 2020!

Wholesome - it is a word I hear every now and then, but probably not often enough these days. I was talking briefly to my lovely friend about this and she just tends to embody the word - she is wholesome. We agreed to bring it back!

I then knew I had chosen the right word for myself and perhaps my perspective of what the world needs. This is how I found my word: susannahconway.com/word/

Amongst the sense of impending doom - noticeably among city slickers (sorry, but city people, calm down...) apparently the world is ending with a flu-like virus, bushfires and absolutely no toilet paper in suburban stores - all of which is (unbelievably) happening, but please, there is also so much good in the world!

So my word for 2020 is Wholesome because I want to feel sentimental, warm and comfortable in the style of Hygge and have an 'everything will be okay' quality. I borrowed Disney plus from my to be sister-in-law and watched Winnie the Pooh in early January and realised Pooh is exactly who I want to embrace in 2020! He is the perfect attitude of wholesomeness and I love it.

I am a sentimental soul and as a child, I had the entire Winnie the Pooh gang as my imaginary friends - my mum tells me, that as a toddler, I wouldn't let her close the door behind me until I had my gumboots on and everyone including the ever slow Eeyore, was also out the door and ready to roam our backyard. I know this is true because I remember who I used to be and I boy, was I an adventurous kid!

I hate how far I have fallen from that being that kid.

I find myself now, at 27 going on 28 (in a matter of days), feeling incredibly sentimental for my old self. So from now on, I hope to be wholesome in my own definition of it - not only in appreciating the little things, but revelling in them, so that when I look back in 10 or so years from now - I will be proud of myself.

So what am I actively doing to live by my word?

• Pinterest! It is a gamechanger if you don't see it as social media. I use my Pinterest as a private oasis. A view into my mind and what truly makes me happy. Although a few of my boards are 'locked' I still have so much to share too. Feel free to check my boards out and re-pin: pinterest/laurenkk13/
• Writing letters and sending care packages. I have a few friends who live interstate or far enough away from me, to send them something. Although I have not yet done this, I have a pile of goodies I soon hope to send!
• Actually following my dreams!! - Yeah, if I haven't lost you know with the wholesomeness... of this post, you are probably my good friend! Basically, I have a room full of tools to help me achieve my dreams, but one of the best things I have bought myself and passed around this year - is a life-changing little journal called 'the life map' by the beautiful Youtuber Youtube.com/Muchelleb. Really you just need to get it or watch her videos to get my point of view on why this is wholesome: the-life-map
• Scrapbooking and journalling - Looking back on photos and decorating a page about one memory or getting all of my thoughts on paper about one moment, just feels like bliss for me.
• Re-watching movies I used to love! The list includes: Ten Inch Hero, The Outsiders, Stand-by Me, Anything Disney, The Longest Ride, The Best of Me, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Mamma Mia and many more!
• Asking myself (within reason) 'What would 'such and such' do?' (and by 'such and such') I could mean anyone from Winnie the Pooh to my mum!
• Appreciate and revel in the goodness of the world, from the funny thing my brother said to the dish I ate and the smile a stranger gave!

I just want to check my thought often and try to skew them towards the positive, if they are becoming negative - I am not being wholesome enough! 

'Nothing in the world can bother you as much as your own mind'
-Unknown

This is where I'm at now, where are you?

KK

What will 2020 bring?

It is already the 3rd of January in the new decade/new year and I am getting there. I am trying to be fair on myself and not put too much pressure on jumping into my writing. Yet, as I did not have the best of years in 2019, I also need to slap myself a little and get moving, gently.

So here it is - the first post for 2020, I hope I will post a whole lot more than my measly x3 posts in 2019, but no promises...

I guess I should tell you what is new?

• I am aiming to write my stories for just a small period of time per day. I am pleased to say - so far, so good! I have written/edited some parts of my novel for 20-30 each of these three days this year! It feels like an achievement to me anyway.
• I am choosing to feel happy. Yep, this is certainly easier said than done, but thinking of happiness as a choice is an interesting concept and I think it is really going to help me!
• I have chosen my word of the year - check out Susannah Conway - to be
  'Wholesome'and yes, I chose this word after watching Winnie The Pooh, Pooh's Grand Adventure - a childhood favourite of mine. I mean is there a better word to describe the crew of the Hundred Acre Wood than 'wholesome?' (If you have no idea who I am talking about, know that I am 27 years old and many of you under 20 may rightfully be lost to my 90's Disney reference...)
  Yet, I did not choose my word of the year, just for the joy of Pooh, but to be sentimental, healthy and passionate - all in a steady manner. It makes sense to me...

Well, that is just about all which is new right now, unfortunately.

Here's to 2020!

KK

Hello 2019!

 As 2018 was a very tough year for me, I am going to take it easy in 2019 without being too hard on myself. Usually, I am willing to set challenges, work extremely hard and just push myself to achieve and experience, but that's not what I need right now.

I started the year off on a camping trip with some friends and that in itself bought up mixed feelings. I knew that I screwed up my 2018 all by myself and in 2019 I am determined, yet not promising, that I will get back on track - whatever track that may be!

I am back at Uni again this year, hopefully, to follow through to completion by 2020 and boy has this study been a long road, because truthfully, I have been studying for all of my 20's and I will be 27 this year - you do the math... I am really trying not to be ashamed. Let's be honest though, I have changed campuses twice and changed from part-time to full-time, which hasn't helped.

The #tenyearchallenge sees me as not much different at all - apart from a different tan and white dog, I am very similar to my sixteen-year-old self, now almost twenty-seven, I just look more tired - again, another excuse to take it slow and simple this year.

Fitting to this post, my word of the year is:

STEADY



Obviously, I just want to take it easy this year as mentioned earlier and steady seemed like the perfect word! In living by this word for the year my focus will be on:

• Slowly etching away at my goals
• getting out in nature more
• focusing on eating well, exercising and getting plenty of sleep.
• saving, saving, saving! (money)
• enjoying my work to the best of my ability (employment and Uni)

My big goals include:

• writing - working on this blog and my story.
• photography - back to nature and maybe entering some competitions? I am a complete novice though.
• Immersing myself in studying and focusing on one topic at a time, in smaller time increments. I am aiming to go into one of three scary fields of further study after completing my Bachelors and I want to gently work towards figuring out which one! 
• Becoming more confident and social. 

My smaller, yet just as meaningful goals include:

• Reading without any pressure on numbers (with this tactic I have already listened to two amazing audiobooks and I am halfway through a 380-page book from my favorite author!) 
• Keeping a reading log of books, articles, papers, audiobooks and any information I have consumed. I want to prove that I read more than I do, but in a gentle way.
• Volunteering to add to my resume and end the year with a bang... steadily. I plan to only volunteer when I am feeling 100% able to. (It is hard work)
• Practice singing and do singing lessons.

Every January seems like a big chance for new beginnings and without putting too much pressure on myself, I really aim to just begin to chip away at all of this. Most of the goals I have already begun, so I guess I am halfway done!

Enjoy your 2019, no matter how it was started,

KK

February Reflections 2017

I find that, in the second month of the year, all resolutions have, uh, 'gone to hell,' but people tend to still be hopeful of a great year - the time it takes for the Earth to orbit the sun. I ended up doing quite a lot, in what also happens to be the shortest month of the year... (I am hoping that these facts are known to everyone...)

In anticipation of uni starting, (in early March) I felt that this February was all about 'starting the year off right' and getting inspired!

Here are some of the things I got up to in Feb 2017!

Lululemon and Collective Hub's - Practice to Purpose

On this sunny day, I had breakfast in Melbourne at the smart artz gallery event hosted by my favourite magazine collective hub and the active wear brand, lululemon. The event: From Practice to Purpose showcased innovative speakers with the initiative to focus on vision and goals. My friend, Michelle and I drove to the city early and were served smoothies, smoothie bowls and fruit, salad, coffee and more delicious foods, while listening to the speakers and getting some great motivation to jump into goal setting with a worksheet and an A4 quote - "Ideas alone won't create a life you love, putting them into action will!"

Birthdays!

I celebrated my mum and my beautiful friends birthdays - shout out to mum, Sarah and Andrew!

Devil Cat

The family cat - Mickey, got into a lot of mischief - half killing some birds, lizards and anything he could catch. I had a great time putting animals out of their misery and then keeping this fur ball locked up...

The McClymonts!

I saw The McClymonts live! An amazing country band (that I have worshipped for many years) went on their 'Endless tour' and I was close to the stage, just in euphoria, listening to these energetic girls!

The opener, Demi Louise was just as brilliant and I bought her CD too, one song of which - I relate to a lot Taxi Driver, Here I am with her in the bottom left photo and my mum and I with The McClymonts at the top!

Autographs and smiles all around!

The local show.

It's tradition for my dad and I to go to our local Agricultural show (which is now more of a general carnival) and I went again this year. I spent half the day with my dad and the other half with my friend and her friend, Michelle and Donna. The thing I love about this tradition is the little things, the community atmosphere and the fun! I always go in the morning when the livestock are being showed and graded, because that is just so fascinating to me - especially the cattle! Later in the day I watched all of the local talent perform on the small stage, including my super talented friend - Sunny, with whom I then watched the closing fireworks with! It really was a magical day - with me really focusing on the good stuff!

And that pretty much sums up that amazing month!

KK

January reflections 2017

Well as I believe most people did, I planned on starting my 2017 off with a bang. I did vlogmas in December 2016 and among those videos, I completed workbooks by Susannah Conway on finding my word for 2017 and unravelling 2016.

It is now late February and I am very much behind on updating you on January 2017, but better late than never...

As you will know if you read my last post, my word of the year is FOCUS and so, I had a few things on the top of my goals/resolutions list, that I wanted to Focus on.

I have made a vow to live my year (and every moment of it) with passion, to focus wholeheartedly on the moments and achieve my best!

I really wanted to achieve big at uni (which hasn't started yet, on the 24th Feb...) Focus on the little moments and the big one that I (clearly) haven't done a lot of - focus on my writing...

As this is my second post of the year, I would say that my writing is a little behind. Although I have tried to sit down and focus on my writing, (blogs and other personal projects) I just haven't been able to get in the right frame of mind.

I must admit that I was having a very tough time in mid-January and I wasn't in the mood to do much at all. What I did do though, was take a trip to Lakes Entrance with my parents and dogs - it turned out to be a trip I really needed! Ice-cream, seafood, beaches and love = priceless!

 

 I also took a day trip with my parents to my local waterfalls in early Jan. (First picture)

Trips away from the norm, really help sometimes...

Overall, January was a fairly good month. I kept my focus on the 'moments' for a great deal of it. Although I didn't get a lot of writing done. I did do a little personal writing and a little is better than none at all!

Stay tuned!

KK

My word of the year 2017!

If you have been on my social media for a long time, you may know that I have been doing susannah conway's 'Word of the year' for the last three years. I recently just did vlogmas and talked about it quite a bit there also.

I think it is very inspiring to have a word to guide me through the year and so far it has somewhat worked for me, so I am going to fully take in my 2017 word of the year which is:

I am in my final years of uni and I want to go out with a bang. I also want to volunteer more and focus on my passion for nature by working on Never Doubt Nature.

I also want to focus on the moments and be more mindful of whats going on around me, rather than being stuck in the daily blur of life.

Lastly, the main thing I want to focus on is my writing! Blogging, but also my long-time-coming stories are going to get a lot of attention from me this year!

Do you have a word of the year?

KK

New year, new word.

Looking at the year ahead...

So in true 'New Years Resolution Style' I am getting around to doing the post I wanted to do in early Jan... in April, but better late than never!

If I talk in the present tense and look back at the start of the year - wow, my year has sucked so far! I mean it has definitely had its good parts, but overall, it was been a pretty ratty year for me. My mind has been all over the place... bleh.

But I have been thinking about the time I am using ( I would never say that I have wasted the time) and its been pretty hectic, so I have actually accomplished so much this year already, yet no where near what I thought I would have done..

Anyway, enough babbling. Here is the post I have wanted to write:

A fresh start - Unravelling the year ahead. 

This is my second year of doing this workbook of picking a word to live by for the year and it has really motivated me to get things done, this is the website: www.susannahconway.com and there is a lot of info on how to get started, but I have chosen for my word this year to be: SELF. 

Last year my word was Explore and boy did I do that! - I will post a review of all of that at some point...

But I really wanted to focus on Self this year because I am always doing things for others - so far I have failed dramatically at being self - aware, self - confident or any other self- related thing I was aiming for, because I think that a lot of things just fell in a heap and it has been hard to focus on me and easier to do things for others.

Is it okay for me to start fresh now? Well screw it, I'm going to, because every day is just another day and every minute is just a minute, we have to treasure them, but that doesn't mean we can't start fresh whenever we want!

KK