Missed my other 2014 goal setting posts? Check them out here –

Making things happen in 2014
Lessons learned in 2013

*Before you jump into my post, make sure you read Lara Casey’s take on setting a vision up for 2014.

To be honest, up until I began this Powersheets journey I never sat down to purposefully visualize my life.

Sure, I had visualized plenty of other things – rooms I wanted to decorate, items for the shop, the future of my shop, yarn magically appearing in my closet… but I hadn’t really done a general life vision.

There’s a first time for everything, right?

I think a vision is meant to grow and change and shouldn’t be considered a black and white path that you cannot veer from. One of the prompts for visualizing that Lara gave was to think of what you’d like your life to have looked like by the time you’re 80. So, I went with that and here’s what I came up with –

I want a life that’s well lived in – soft, warm and with just the right amount of contentment mixed with passion.

Kinda short, huh? Well, you know me. It was really long but that last sentence of everything I had written really is the bottom line. Contentment + passion = life well lived. For me anyway.

But what does that really mean?

Well, it means my vision for 2014 falls into three categories that make up my core.

God – a focus on glory and faith. I want my work and life to bring glory, as He is the only way I will achieve anything. I pray for boldness in testimony (something I struggled with in 2013…who am I kidding, I’ve struggled with it my entire Christian life), and a transparency that encourages sharing and connection.

Family – a focus on security and integrity. I want to contribute to our goals as a family. It excites me to be a part of growing and securing the legacy Alex and I will pass onto Ezra (and any future kids). I want to be an example to my son on a non-traditional approach to work, and an example of triumphing over the lack of focus that so often accompanies creative individuals. I was raised with an example of a self-made entrepreneur in my father, and self-sacrificial devotion in my mother. I want to balance those… my desire – burn, even – to DO something, to MAKE something with my desire to mother and serve my family.

Me – a focus on commitment and purpose. I used to call myself the place where dreams go to die. Pretty mean, isn’t it? But I am not a failure. I need to separate my success from my dad’s, while appreciating and learning from his example. And in doing that, I can see my dreams have purpose and they have a timing and they have worth – I was created to strive for these things, for a reason. And this is my year to see those things happen. Finally.

• Laziness
• Manipulation and guilt trips from others
• Unrealistic expectations
• Inactivity
• Ignorance and avoidance
• A closed up heart
• Wasting time online (man this one’s going to be H-A-R-D!)
• Comparison
• The appearance of perfection
• Pride
• Fear of success
• Judgment of myself and others
• Anger over molehills
• Wasteful spending
• Not caring for my body

• Purposefulness
• Finishing what I start
• Meaningful connections
• Grace for myself and others
• Prayer
• Asking for help when I need it
• Dreams turned into realities
• Transparence
• Embracing what’s hard
• Quiet
• Exercise
• Turning off the internet sometimes
• Less distraction
• More date nights
• Bible study

I’m sure you’ve seen this around – it seems like every year more and more people talk about picking a “word” they’ll focus on for the next 365 days. I always kind of thought it was silly. Guess it’s time to join in on the silliness.

My word for 2014 is COMMIT. I’m committed to showing the glory of God in my life, to acting on faith, to securing a legacy, to working with integrity, to vindicating my dreams, to a life with purpose. Big stuff, huh? I’d like to laugh at myself, but that’s somewhere on my list of things I’m saying no to so I shouldn’t. And instead I’ll tell myself to just try. Worst thing that could happen? I actually accomplish what I set out to do. Like woah.

Did you pick a word for 2014?