DEBBIE-DABBLE BLOG: My One Little WORD for 2016

I am a Victorian Soul, who lives in a small townhouse that was built in the mid 1970's, not a huge Mega Mansion!! I just recently lost my Hubby Joe, who was a Retired Letter Carrier. I worked night shift as an RN on a Hospital based Rehabilitation( Physical Medicine) Unit for 37 years before I had Knee Replacement Surgery and officially Retired in 2019 after 41 years working in Direct Patient Care ... I am so glad that we retired at 62 years of age and got to spend that time together before he passed....I still do love Retirement!!!!

I DABBLE IN A BIT OF THIS AND THAT!!!!

" IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO BE WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN"
George Eliot

George Eliot was actually a pen name for a woman named Mary Anne Evans......

BLOGGING FOR FUN AND FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!

Saturday, January 2, 2016

My One Little WORD for 2016

Here it is, the beginning of another year......

And it is time to choose My One Little Word for 2016!!

What this means is choosing One Little Word to focus on for the year........

My WORD for 2015 was LIVE!

And I think I did fairly well in achieving what I set out to accomplish!!

If you missed my post , Reflections on my One Little Word for 2015 , please click HERE

In July, I was finally able to go Part Time after 37 years of working full time.

Going Part Time has greatly improved my quality of Life!!

I am not going to beat around the bush this year so I will tell you now, up front in the beginning of this post, what My One Little WORD for 2016 is.........

WELLNESS!!

I have learned that there are several different aspects to Wellness.......

As I have stated in these posts for the past several years, I no longer have New Year's Resolutions but I do have Aspirations for the New Year.......

PHYSICAL WELLNESS

There are several things that I aspire to accomplish this year.....

1. Weight Loss for Health

This is different than trying to lose weight to fit into a little black dress for some upcoming big occasion, even though that would be nice!

What I mean by this is that YES, I am overweight and Yes, it is seriously affecting my overall Health!!

I did start a Weight Loss Journey 2 years ago and I did lose a total of 55 pounds. This was to prolong Knee Replacement surgery on my right knee. However, with Part Time also comes a decrease in activity and with a decrease in activity comes weight gain. Also , being home with the refrigerator does not help. So, I have put back on 20 pounds . According to my Orthopedic Surgeon, every 50 pounds of extra weight is like 200 pounds of pressure on your joints!!

GOAL: I hope to concentrate on healthy eating habits and take off at least 30 pounds by the end of the year.

I also want to drink more water and cut back on the amount of coffee that I drink.

In fact, i am starting the New Year off with 31 Days of Hydration - Water Challenge! Click HERE to read about it!!

2. Exercise

This is a difficult thing for me as I can not walk for any length of time but I do have an exercise bike and I am supposed to ride that bike to strengthen my knee joint and the muscles around it in preparation for my knee replacement surgery .....

GOAL: To do at least 20 minutes on the Bike at least 5 days a week

3, Maintaining my Health

GOAL : Taking care of medical issues such as Pap Smears, Mammograms, Cancer Follow up with my Urologist , Physical Therapy for my Back, Dental issues.......

4. Sleep

GOAL: Working night shift, I have been used to only getting 4-5 hours of sleep a day.
Now that I am Part Time, I want to try to get at least 7 hours of Sleep on the days that I am not working.

ENVIRONMENTAL WELLNESS

5. Purge

GOAL: To continue the process that I started in 2015 of going through everything in the house and if I do not need it, do not LOVE it or absolutely have to have it- out it goes!! Things will be donated to Thrift Shops or Treasures will be passed on to family members.

I have now lived a year with what I decided to keep from last year. Now I want to go through everything again and see what else I could purge!

6. Organize

Again, a continuation of what I started last year.

GOAL: As I purge, then I need to re-organize.

I have to do more organizing up in the Attic and in our rented Storage Shed.

A lot of organizing will take place in October. Joe is hoping to retire by October so that means we will be able to donate all of his NUMEROUS Postal Clothing to the Post Office where he works so others can use them. That means cleaning out several closets and then maybe there will actually be some room for my clothes in the closets in our bedroom. Yes, I had to move my clothes into the Craft Room closet because of all his Postal uniforms!

INTELLECTUAL WELLNESS

7. Enjoy!

GOAL: To do more things that give me enjoyment. I hope to start to READ more and I have created a few cozy reading areas for myself through out the house.

8. Be Creative!

GOAL: I also want to Craft more. I have a huge amount of Craft Supplies that I want to "dabble" with.
Also there are several projects that I want to finish this year such as painting my bedroom furniture, going through, organizing and putting into albums many vintage photos that were my Mother's.

All of these things are Stress Relievers for me and thus will promote........

FINANCIAL WELLNESS

9. Plan for the Future

GOAL: To continue what we started last year in paying Bills off and to meet again with our financial planner in regards to Joe's Retirement. Stop impulse buying and to buy only what we need or LOVE!!

SOCIAL WELLNESS

10. Reconnect with Family and Friends

GOAL: I started to work on this last year by reconnecting with my sister and her family. I want to plan more family get togethers and spend more time with those that I love and are important to me.

SPIRITUAL WELLNESS

11. Returning to Church

GOAL: I will admit that because the the pressures that were placed on me to run Fund Raising Events for our Parish, I needed to step back and be "absent" for awhile. I took the "out of sight, out of mind" approach. Now that a full year has passed and events have gone on without me and have been successful, I will again to become active in our parish BUT not to the extent that I was before which caused me a great deal of emotional and physical stress.

12. Relaxation

Goal: I hope to take more time to relax and just Breathe!! Slow down and "Smell the Roses" so to speak.....
Enjoy the simpler things in life.

So those are all the things that I want to work on this coming year , focusing on My One Little Word for 2016........

WELLNESS!!

I feel that by focusing on Wellness this year, I will be able to "LIVE" better!!

And hopefully prevent this from happening to me again!!

I do hope to keep you all updated throughout the year on how I am focusing on WELLNESS and how I am working on my Goals and Aspirations for the Year!!

So I hope you will come by and visit again!!

And thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment. If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......

Hugs,
Debbie