Surrender

I realize it's mid February and I'm late to the resolution game but I've really been searching for my "word" of 2018. This one word resolution trend has become popular in recent years. It's basically one word to center your year around: goals, intentions, hopes, efforts, and a focal point for all the different ways one single word can lead us to be our best selves. Some popular one word resolutions are: trust, faith, healthy, disciplined, joy, peace, patience etc.

I truly thought about trying on all sorts of words for 2018 and I finally settled on SURRENDER. I guess you could say since it's already February that I surrendered to the process of choosing a word!  I picked this word for many reasons. To me, surrender represents peace, harmony, and most importantly a "letting go." I want to surrender to the plans God has for my life.

I want to surrender to this new stage in my life: Motherhood. I want to experience it all, enjoy every phase and milestone, embrace all it has to offer and give all I can to my role as Hadley and Hank's mom and then...surrender.

 I want to surrender to the learning process---to teach my students the best way I know how, to mix it up if need be, learn new things for my teacher "tool bag", give my students opportunities for success and then.....surrender.

 I want to surrender my health and treat my body with kindness. I want to push my body to its bounds of strength and fitness. I want to work hard and give my body quality fuel and then...surrender.

I want to surrender to God all stress, worry, fear, and doubt. I want to give it to Him every single day and never try and work out for myself what I know has already been taken care of. I will hand it over in faith and then....surrender.

I surrender to this very word of surrender because honestly, I'm not great at it. I'm not great at letting things lie, letting things go, and letting things be. I can be so busy fussing and fretting that I forget that if I just let go, I'll have a safe space to land. This one word resolution will be a challenge for me. It'll involve me unpacking the road map, tossing it out, and trusting deeply, knowing that at the end of each day I can go to bed surrendering to the notion that I have done enough because I am enough.

 So 2018, I'm ready to dive in and roll with the waves, learning how to be my best self all while letting the tide take me where it may. I surrender to letting life unfold just as it's meant to.

As a side note, Oprah, in all her fabulous wisdom, tells a story of how surrendering changed her life. And she sings verses from one of my favorite hymns, I Surrender All. Check it out.

Savor Your Sparkle,
Leslie