In 2018 I wrote a little bit here about my word of the year and did a few updates. My word for 2018 was balance, and while I do feel like I achieved much more balance than in previous years, I was nowhere near what I ultimately would want for myself balance-wise. For this year I wanted a word that I really felt spoke to me in different facets of my life. My 2019 word of the year is less.

2019 Word Of The Year: Less

Why less? Less of so many things. Less plans, less stress, less STUFF, less clutter, caring less about what others think, less people pleasing, less time with people and on things that DO NOT matter.

I felt really burnt out at the end of 2018. Not on one thing specifically but just on everything. I felt exhausted. I spent so much of the year saying YES to everything. While I believe sometimes that it is good to do something, it is done because you either have FOMO (it’s real) or because you want to help people or just can’t bring yourself to say no.

I don’t need to go to everything, I don’t need to take the lead on everything. We want to grow our family if we are so lucky and I need to have my family be my focus. So I can’t say yes to everything. Sometimes it’s OK to say no. It’s ok to not go to the event, or party, or help someone move, or whatever it is. It’s OK to skip the brunch, or just bring a store-bought side dish because you don’t have time to cook.

I also want to focus on less STUFF! The last few weeks of 2018 I did a LOT of purging. Clothes, toys, and just crap. We organized big spaces in our house and got rid of SO MUCH CRAP! It was wonderful. So this year instead of getting new crap I would like to focus on less crap. Liam’s birthday is only 7 weeks after Christmas, so this year for his birthday we asked people to either donate to a charity we support in his name or the gift of an experience. A zoo or museum membership, tickets to go do something fun, etc. He is SET on toys. Me? I am good on leggings, handbags, shoes etc. We don’t need more stuff!

Less stress. Well if you know how to achieve this one please let me know! But I honestly think saying no more and doing LESS of the things that don’t make me happy will help me achieve this.

A long time ago at a blog conference my friend, Danielle Smith said “if it isn’t a hell yeah it’s a no.” That is my motto for this year.

What is your 2019 word of the year?