My word for 2016 came to me in November and felt right immediately.
ENOUGH.
As in, this is enough. You have enough. You are doing enough. Relax.
I chatted about it in depth with Ali Edwards (who has inspired my One Little Word adventures for the past six years) on this week's podcast episode (yay! Season three! I'm back!) And one thing we talked about is how opposite it is of SHAKE, my 2015 word. And man, is it ever.
But to be honest, I also sort of hope 2016 is the opposite of 2015.
I loved 2015. But DAMN, was it nuts. I have never hustled so hard in my life. It was a crazy year of surprises and upheavals and GO, GO, GO and so much bubble wrap. It would have been a SHAKE year regardless of the word I chose. I wouldn't change anything, but I am so glad I never have to do that (launch a business & have a baby at the exact same time) again.
2016 is going to be all about NOT SHAKING. Pulling in a bit. Relaxing a bit. Looking around and taking a deep breath. I still have a lot of work to do with this new business of mine, but I have almost a full season under my belt now and I think that will help immensely.
With ENOUGH in the back of my mind, I set my 2016 goals. The biggest thing that I notice (and you might notice if you've been here awhile) is the lack of specifics. I don't have numbers attached to these goals. I'm not going to bake 40 loaves of bread. I am not going to shoot 12 rolls of film. I am not going to build 29 things or sew 26 blankets or eat 15 sandwiches. I decided that part of ENOUGH had to be letting go of all the rigid requirements and just trying to do a little more of this and little less of that.
So, this upcoming year:
I want to move more. I hope this means around 70K steps a week on the fitbit. I hope this means active minutes. I hope this means family walks after dinner. I hope this means making it to yoga. I hope this means dancing in the kitchen with the girls. I hope this means going for my first run in over a year.
I want to complain less. I hope this leads to less stress and frustration overall. I hope this means focusing on all the good we do have. I hope this means letting it go when Paul has to work late or when my street is torn up for construction or when the girls refuse to nap or when my day goes opposite as planned.
I want to create more. I hope this means finishing that sweater I started two months ago. And that weaving that's still on the loom. I hope this means pies! I baked a pie at Thanksgiving and it was the most fun. I want to bake more pies in 2016. I want to paint with the girls. I want to grow a garden and not give up on it in July. I want to make time for my girlfriends. I hope to create more friendships. In general, I just want to get my schedule a bit more relaxed so all of my waking hours are NOT spent nursing a baby or packing books.
I want to scroll less. I hope this means putting down the iPad/iPhone and picking up a book. I recently listened to Aziz Ansari on the Freakanomics podcast (great interview) and my favorite line was "I read the Internet so much I feel like I’m like on page a million of the worst book ever." It totally made me laugh but it's also painfully true. Some nights, we'll get the girls to sleep and I'll sit on the couch and scroll and scroll and by the time I look up, 45 minutes have passed and I feel bored but simultaneously over-stimulated. It's annoying and terrible. I love Instagram and I love pinning gorgeous white interiors, but I hate the endless scroll. Here's to turning more pages instead in 2016.
I want to document more. I hope to continue using my film camera though I am not worried about getting one roll shot a month. I hope to write often in the I Want To Remember journal I ordered for the girls (I loved keeping one for Ellerie last year). I hope to record a second of every single day and compile them into a video of our year. (I'm using my goal tracker and this app to do so.)
I want to spend less. I hope to not buy stuff just to buy stuff. I hope to get back in the habit of capsule wardrobe. I got rid of so much crap in 2015. Seriously. 2015 will be remembered as 1. Piper. 2. Ellerie grew hair. 3. Get To Work Book. 4. The year I Marie Kondo-ed our house within an inch of it's life. We are planning to do some light remodeling (!!) in our house and hopefully backyard and I want to be very intentional with my decisions and the expenses there.
So that's it. I'm breaking all the rules by not making specific or quantifiable goals. But for some reason, this next year, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Happy 2016 to you.
enJOY it 
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