Welcome to 2016! Yes, I know we’ve already been here for 10 days now, but this is the first chance we’ve had to chat. I originally planned to do this earlier. However, December was incredibly busy and didn’t leave much time to think about last year and what I want tho arrive for this year.

I may have mentioned this before, but I prefer to set goals for the year in lieu of resolutions. Most resolutions tend to be vague and I like things I can actually check off a list. More often than not, I pick a theme for my year, as well. The goals may or may not directly support the theme. The theme is more to guide decisions than anything else. So I’ll share that first.

2016 is the year I live intentionally.

I have a habit of coating or floating through my days, just letting things happen. Then my birthday rolls around in September and I cannot figure out where the year has gone. I’m behind on my reading goal, I haven’t made any major financial improvements, haven’t dedicated enough time to prayer, I’ve abandoned journaling (again!), can’t remember the last time I volunteered – all because I’ve coasted through each day without doing anything.

I don’t want that anymore. I don’t want to let things happen or pass me by. I don’t want to be a bystander in my own life. I will make things happen and grab opportunities that come my way. I will actually live my life.

My world was rocked last fall, totally tilted off axis, never to be the same again. I owe it to that experience to not live a life wasting my time here.

So I’m going to live with intention. You have my permission to hold me to it.

* Note: I wrote this on my Kindle Fire. Please excuse any of the errors I may have missed.