My word for 2014 - Nurture | Mum In The Madhouse

My word for 2014 – Nurture

My word for 2013 was Joy, or more specifically Choosing Joy.  I focused on looking past the negatives and choosing to find joy in all I see, do and make.  It wasn’t always easy, but the more I did it, the easier it became and I actually found that I started to do it automatically without thinking about it.
nurture

We have been truly blessed in 2013 with some fantastic family experiences, but there has also been some real challenges.  I hope that I have dealt with them mostly with dignity and also learned from the experiences.  I have certainly learned who my true friends are, but I have also learned that I need to let go and just make the most of everyday.
This year I want to concentrate on Nurture.
ˈnəːtʃə/
verb
verb: nurture; 3rd person present: nurtures; past tense: nurtured; past participle:nurtured; gerund or present participle: nurturing
  1. 1.
    care for and protect (someone or something) while they are growing.
    “Jarrett was nurtured by his parents in a close-knit family”
    synonyms: bring up, care for, provide for, take care of, attend to, look after, rear,support, raise, foster, parent, mother, tend; More

    antonyms: neglect, hinder
    • help or encourage the development of.
      “my father nurtured my love of art”
    • cherish (a hope, belief, or ambition).
      “for a long time she had nurtured the dream of buying a shop”
noun
noun: nurture
  1. 1.
    the action or process of nurturing someone or something.
    “the nurture of children”
    synonyms: encouragement, promotion, fostering, development, cultivation,boosting, furtherance, advancement More

    • upbringing, education, and environment, contrasted with inborn characteristics as an influence on or determinant of personality.
      “we are all what nature and nurture have made us”
      synonyms: upbringing, bringing up, care, fostering, tending, rearing, raising,training, education More

      antonyms: nature, innate disposition, inherited characteristics
I need to nurture myself a little more and focus on finding answers to the ongoing health issues I suffer from and find ways that I can support my body and soul with my condition and be a little gentler on myself.  But I also want to extend this to all the other areas of my life too.
I am going to continue to learn new skills and keep up my sewing lessons on a weekly basis and also the Saturday workshops now and then.  I also want to work on my photography skills and have joined the Manual Overdrive course with Capturing Childhood.  I have found that learning new things nourishes me and enables me to be a better person and give more to my family.
I am going to spend time supporting my children, tending to their changing needs as they grow up. I want to find ways to encourage them to be less reliant on electronics and to nurture their other talents.  I want to make spending more time outside a priority and have fun as a family.  I want to nurture their life skills.  I want us to cook, bake, make and create together.
I am going to give more time to my marriage.  I have loved having MadDad around during this festive season and realise that we need to spend some more time with just the two of us.  We had lunch together on my birthday and it was a rare treat that we both loved and we decided that we are going to make more time for each other.  Maybe not date nights (as it is hard to get people to look after the boys), but why not meet for lunch more often or watch a movie together.  My marriage is important to me and worth spending time and energy on to nurture it.
I also want to nurture my career. More on this to come!
Finally, I am also going to nurture our Finance, but there is much more on this on A Thrifty Mum, where my word of the year financially is PRUDENCE.
So each quarter when I produce my seasonal manifesto’s I will use Nurture to help me focus on my tasks, hopes and plans and update on the previous quarterly goals and aims.
I find that my having a one word that sums up my goals and plans for the year it makes me much more focused and I use it as a visual reminder.  I print it out to remind me of what I am looking to achieve.
Cass also told me that Ruth at Dorky Mum does a word of the year too and she is much more eloquent that I, so hop on over to read more about her word.  I also completed Susannah Conway’s Unravelling the Year workbook after reading about it on her blog and it really helped me reflect on 2013 and put 2014 in to perspective.

Comments are closed.