Helllooo and Happy New Year. I hope you have had the chance to check out hero highlight for this month. This is a new addition to the blog and if you haven’t read it yet, hop on over and check it out.

Okay, let’s chat. It is January 18th and I have already let the new semester’s hustle bustle craziness stress me out more than it should. Classes haven’t even started yet and I have already been overwhelmed by my schedule, due dates, and meetings. By now you guys know that I am a planner. Recently, I have been planning like crazy, trying to get my class schedule down on paper as well as my work schedule, my sorority schedule and my meeting schedule that comes with all three. Needless to say, it has been a lot of writing (yes I do a lot of writing outside the blog too!). I have been so wrapped up in things that haven’t even happened yet that I really haven’t gone out and done something actually productive with the new year.

Generally I am a pretty laid back person. I plan as much as I can to prepare myself for my week but do pretty well rolling with the punches. For whatever reason, my laissez-faire mindset has completely abandoned me. I have a feeling I am not the only one that gets worked up from time to time about what’s to come. However by worrying or stressing over things that haven’t even happened yet, you miss what is right in front of you. Walking into a new year should be the best time to let go of stressors, start fresh, and have a positive perspective. The saying goes “new year, new me” right? Well, thats really cliche, but it’s on the right track. What better time to do new things, try to be the best version of yourself, and pursue new adventures than the start of a new year?

This year I have decided to set a word of the year. My word for 2021 is “intentional.” I think there is so much value in being intentional. I want to do a better job of being intentional with my words, with my actions, and with my relationships. I don’t want to coast through 2021. I want to live with intentionality. I have found myself often just going day-to-day in zombie mode just doing what I needed to get done with an autopilot mindset. While autopilot can be helpful to get through some of the monotonous days, it also can cause you to miss some small things that are going on around you. Rather than coasting through my days on autopilot, I want to be intentional with my time.

A lot of you have set New Year’s resolutions. If you have not picked a word that you want to represent how you want your year to go, I encourage you to do so. Set your goals now, and be intentional on fulfilling them. This is a shorter post today, but I challenge you to go out and make 2021 your year. Make it memorable, fill it with laughs, and live every day to the fullest. If there is anything 2020 should have taught you, it’s that we never know when the ground beneath our feet will shift. Be ready and live without regrets.