My Experience Being BOLD in 2018

Since 2013, I’ve been choosing a word of the year to serve as a guiding principle and theme for my life.  That year, my word was joy, then I went on to choose love (2014), presence (2015), flourish (2016) and convergence (2017).

For 2018, I committed to being BOLD.  I celebrated 5 years in business in the spring and I began the year with big plans to live boldly personally and professionally. 

I’m sharing my experience with this word in the spirit of authenticity and vulnerability. I hope that this inspires you to live authentically and to embrace vulnerability, too. 

Here are some quick highlights of ways I lived BOLD in 2018…

• I shared my simplifying story with more people and I got to hear more of your simplifying stories! Our stories connect us and one of the most fulfilling parts of my work is hearing your stories!   Hearing why you desire a simpler life and all of the benefits you've experienced from simplifying warms my heart. Let's continue sharing and supporting each other this way.
• I became an international speaker in 2018 and look forward to the opportunities that lie ahead. Teaching people how to simplify their homes and lives and empowering women to live their dreams and see the world brings me joy. I'm excited to continue stepping out boldly as a speaker and facilitator in front of even more audiences.
• I let more of my personality, beliefs, and opinions shine through in both my in-person interactions and the online world.  I've also been able to continue narrowing my focus to working with women to create lives of experiences over things and focusing on enjoying simple places in the world. I hope to further expand this project next year. 
• I simplified my offerings and focused on doing more of what I love-speaking, leading workshops and retreats and working closely one-to-one with driven individuals to organize their homes, create space in their lives and realize their dreams.  I worked with fabulous clients in 2018-thank you!
• I submitted a grant with a colleague to travel to Antarctica to do research for my second book, and while we didn’t receive the award this time, I have a very clear vision now of what’s ahead for this project and am super excited about it!
• I got back to writing more articles in the second half of the year and have contributions to magazines and other sites coming out in 2019.  I'm also joining Courtney Carver (of Project 333) as a contributor for A Simple Year 2019.
• I simplified and better aligned my leadership and volunteer roles with my core values which has meant saying “no” and “yes” more confidently.  I look forward to continuing to contribute in these roles in the new year.

It’s always eye-opening to reflect on where I’ve been as I look ahead to the new year.  Going through my annual planning process is a critical part of the reflection process and summarizing my intentions into one word helps me stay focused. Do you have an annual reflection process?  I’d love to hear what works for you.  I’d also love to know your word of the year for 2019.  You can find mine here!

To Simplicity & Joy,

Lisa