One Little Word - Fearless! (All Things Alicia)

So my one little word last year was "Cherish." (If you're not sure what one little word is, it's an Ali Edwards thing). I was really needing to focus on enjoying the moments I have right now, before they're gone. I'm a mom of 3 very young kids and that life is hard. I didn't want to wish it away and regret it later.

Even though I lost part of my Cherish notes in a bad iPhone incident, :(, I found just the fact that I focused on a little word as a theme helped me move in that area. Even though I've scrapped very little of it (but journaled an ok amount), just the process of picking a word helped me think and remember along those lines.

This year I've chosen the word Fearless. I really tried to think of a positive way to say it, like brave, or courageous, etc.... but when it comes down to it, I stayed with fearless because of the freedom it implies and the way it kind of sounds to me like a battle cry. It's not necessarily a pretty word, but it's fierce, and that works for me this year.

I really felt moved back in October to pick this as my word this year. I've realized that I'm ruled by several different types of fears that hold me back from success. And when I think about it, no one benefits from such a life.

I decided to use an artist sketchbook for this year's journey. I chose this because I used them a lot for journals and this year, while including pictures, I will also be doing a lot of journaling, self reflecting, and studying.

I like these artist sketchbooks because I like to do a lot of different things in my journals. I make charts, mind maps, lists, letters, etc....

Here's a shot of a prayer/devotional journal from a few years ago:

The phrase on the front of my Fearless journal is a stamp from our Daring Adventure stamp set. It says, "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all" and I believe it's a Hellen Keller quote. I thought it appropos.

In the front I included a sermon outline from my church that I got shortly after I decided on this word for the year.

My church's vision is about "being real with God, self, and others." Part of that is self reflection. I've been pretty good at that my whole life, but I think I am just realizing the whole fear aspect in relation to how much it rules my actions. If you notice the bottom of this bulletin, it's on my birthday, and says "learning to look within." Perfect!

If you haven't ever picked a word for the year, I'd recommend trying it. You don't have to scrap it or even write about it. Just think about what you want to focus on for one year and pick it, even if only mentally. Maybe write that one word somewhere where you'll see it often all year through. You'll be surprised at how just the act of deciding something helps you achieve it.