A few years ago, I stopped making New Year’s Resolutions.  Instead, I began choosing one word to focus on throughout the year.  Last year, I also added a goal to help me focus on my one word.  My one word last year was “Joy” and my goal was “Finding Joy Everyday”.

Finding Joy Everyday was a great goal for me because I was in the middle of lots of transitions.  We were moving into our new house, I’d always lived in a city and our new house was in the country, also I was still adjusting to early retirement.  I needed to make sure I didn’t become overwhelmed with life.

I pledged to myself to post a photo on Instagram everyday that represented joy to me.  My tags were #joy, #findingjoyeveryday2016, and #projectjoy2016.  Eventually, I began to call my goal “Project Joy”.  Join me on Instagram @ldjames1.

These are my most liked Instagram photos for 2016. #2016bestnine   Some of these are certainly among my favorite photos from last year; but my favorite #joy photos include my family.

Planting

This is a photo of my hubby teaching our oldest Grand how to plant strawberries.

Blowing Bubbles

Skateboard Practice

Fishing at Fox Pond.

Popcorn Cart is Now Open

My Fur Babies

Project Joy was good for me.  It made me look at the world with different eyes.  I found myself taking a minute or two to appreciate things that in the past I would have just ignored.

My family kind of thought I was crazy and my daughter rolled her eyes a few times when she read my posts.  That’s okay because I didn’t do it for them; it was for me.

Did you choose a word for 2016?  How did it go?  What’s your one word for 2017?

You can read about how I chose my One Word for 2016 in my post Finding Joy Everyday.

You can read about my One Word for 2017 in my post 2017-Today  I Choose Joy.  (This post will go live on Friday (1-13-2017).