2016: Joy

It's the new moon today, and I have finally decided on my word for the year: JOY.

I have to say this word took me by surprise. When I think of 2016 and what I hope it will hold, I think of the short but amazing list of goals I want to achieve. For me, 2016 will be about a lot of hard work. It will be about getting things done.

I see JOY as a healthy balance to my goals. What's the point of achieving my goals this year if, in the process, I become a miserable, uptight shrew? {Some days I feel like I'm already half-way there...}

I know JOY will not always be an easy word for me. When it's winter, and it's raining, and I've trudged to work and trudged home to do more work, and I've had a disagreement with my husband, and the house is a mess ... on those days, JOY will probably be the last thing on my mind.

But I believe there is always something to be joyful about in my day. It might be as simple as taking the time to write in my journal, or my dog's enthusiastic greeting when I arrive home from work. {I love it how happy dogs are to see you, every single time!} I also believe that the more I use my "joy muscle" the easier it will be to find JOY in my life.

At New Year I started a practice of recording my everyday joys. Every evening before bed I take a small piece of paper and write on it at least one thing that has given me joy that day. Then I date it, fold it up, and put it in a special jar. At the end of the year I'll be able to open the jar and read about all the JOY I experienced in 2016.

So here's to 2016: a year of hard work, of stopping to smell the roses, of relaxing, of laughing, of enJOYing the good things in life.

Anne-Marie x

PS. Find out more about word of the year - and choose your own word - here.