My Word for 2017.

Honestly, 2016 was pretty good for me, personally, even though the rest of the world seems to think that it fell apart. Ha. I loved looking back on 2016--some of the best moments and posts that it encompassed (post HERE). As I look to the upcoming year, I want to pick a word to work towards and focus on. I am not huge on New Years Resolutions. I love making personal goals, but I feel like on NYE, people overdo it. So, I am going to choose a word to focus on this upcoming year and try to incorporate it into every facet of my life. I, also, like last year, want to talk about some REAL, NOT-SO-GREAT Resolutions (look for that post on Friday!). Because, let's be honest, by January 4th, I am over most of NYE goals ;).

Let's do this! My word of the year....

That's right. You read that correctly. My word and goal that I want to focus on for 2017 is patience. Those of you who know me very well are probably laughing out loud. Patience is not something that comes easily to me. I want to work on my patience in every aspect of my life. 

I want to become more patient with my husband. T Money is not perfect and I tend to have extremely high expectations from him. I want that patience to be worked into our marriage. 

I want to be more patient with my students and in my career. Being a sixth grade teacher comes with many challenges. I feel like I am more of a therapist than a teacher to these students: emotionally, socially, and academically. I want to work on my patience as a teacher. I am starting to feel a little "burnt out" and I need to remember why I became a teacher in the first place and be patient with my students and myself in my career. 

I want to be more patient with my Savior. I tend to get impatient when He doesn't respond to my prayers or questions, or responds in a way that I don't necessarily want. I want to be more patient with my fellow church-goers, neighbors, ward members, and other members of my church. I know that the LDS church is looked at really negatively right now and I don't think that my negativity helps. 

Along with that, I want to be more patient with people that I deal with on a daily basis. Whether that be strangers, coworkers, friends, my own family members,  etc. I want to work on being more patient and not automatically assuming the worst of others.

Mostly, I want to be more patient with myself. I need to use that patience in times of doubt or frustration with myself. I tend to be my hardest critic. I want my body to be where it used to be. I want my life to be at a certain point. I want T to be done with school and I want to think about starting a family. But what I want isn't necessarily what is best. I want to use that patience towards my physical health. It will not come automatically. All I can do is the best I can. I want to use patience towards my spiritual well-being. I am not going to be perfect, but I can try. I want to practice patience in my intellectual and work life. I want to use patience in my mental and emotional health. I get frustrated with myself when I get emotional or when dealing with my Depression. I want to remind myself about PATIENCE during those times. 

Being patient with others even when I am tired and stressed is something that I definitely need to work on. I honestly believe that most people are just doing the best that they can and I need to remember that, even during times of frustrations. 

I encourage you all to pick a word to focus on for the New Year.
What is your word? I would love your thoughts.

Happy 2017, friends!