2020 Focus

I shared in this post last year that my "resolution" for each new year looks more like just one word, sort of like picking an area of my life that could use improvement or identifying something I find lacking and attempting to better incorporate that in my daily life throughout the year.

For 2020, I have landed on the word "focus." Ironically, it wasn't very clear to me this year what my word was supposed to be, so it's taken me a while to organize my thoughts and write this post. Since Maggie has entered our lives, I have felt more scattered than ever before. It's been wonderful and my artsy brain secretly loves the lack of structure, but I find myself constantly wasting precious time, overly relying on my phone, unable to tackle the seemingly endless to do list that exists solely in my head. I have found myself going through periods of pretty intense anxiety and wariness and then returning to a sort of calm, with no real idea of what caused or ended the experience. Hormones, lack of sleep, poor diet--whatever the culprit, it's not a good way to live. So, in an effort to maintain a modicum of sanity and become an overall better participant in family life, I have adopted "focus" as my word for 2020.

What does this look like, at least right now? The obvious and most common answer: to pay particular attention to something. But I rather like the noun forms of the word--1. the center of interest or activity, and 2. the state or quality of having or producing clear visual definition. In my life, I find that when I fail to keep God's word as the focus I begin to lean on my own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5-6 New Living Translation (NLT)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;

do not depend on your own understanding.

Seek his will in all you do,

and he will show you which path to take.

When this happens, not only am I directly disobeying scripture but I feel like I just start wandering down different paths and end up wasting time and energy only to end up drifting in circles. I fail to arrive at the correct decisions for myself, us as a couple, a family, and even my business. This brings me to the second noun form of "focus." I feel like my business and my day to day activities lack a clear vision. After the Valentine's Day sale currently running at JacobJewelry, I am considering closing shop for just a bit to refocus and spend some quality time exploring just what I want that space to be, to become, what purpose it should serve. It was a God led endeavor at the start and has fallen to auto pilot these past few months, so I'd like to give it the attention it deserves if I am to be an intentional business owner.

Colossians 3:23-24 New Living Translation (NLT)

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.

When I first started this blog I was determined to keep up with the influencers and social media content creators with their witty posts and helpful reviews, tips, recipes, etc. I was focused on living clean and affordably, taking all the best photos and editing them far past reality. I managed to keep that up for about 6.2 seconds before God showed me that is not what I'm about and not what this blog was to be about. I won't be making millions. You will not find me on YouTube. If I share a product or tip it is because it has greatly benefited my life and I feel it could do the same for some sacrificially kind reader. I find there may be a certain topic or thought weighing on me and about once a month God allows me to express it in this little space of the internet. What he does with it from there, I'm not really certain. That's ok.

So, to wrap up this little rambling: I'm going to try to live with better focus this year. The right focus. More scripture, less social media. More intention, less drifting. Remember what is worth your time and what is not. That is disturbingly easy to confuse when you're burnt out. Refill your tank and continually prioritize, if that's what it takes. 

Focus. Happy New Year!

Best,

Emily