• Enjoy a friend date | I already have the 15th planned into my diary although we are not sure yet what we will be doing in that time.
• Declutter and organise my books | I have this bad habit of buying too many books at one time and then they sit unread on my bookshelf as I buy new ones.  My goal is to get rid of any that I no longer want and organise those that I want to read this year.
• Read 1 book | From the list above
• Look into volunteering with UAVA | Last year I started volunteering as a counselor with a charity who provide help to victims of sexual assault and abuse. I have really enjoyed my time there and have learnt so much but they are a little too far from where I live. As such, I have been thinking about possibly volunteering somewhere else, and I think UAVA may just be the place. 
• Complete the One Little Word prompt | I am really excited about what my word will bring this year.
• Have a pamper session twice this month | I am in desperate need of getting my hair cut and colored so that is on the list this month. I will also probably do a session one evening at home involving putting on a mask, paint my nails etc.
• Make a start on project life | This will be my third year doing project life and I love it. My goal this year is to continue telling the story of my life in this manner.
• Declutter and organise my bathroom | One of my goals this year is to prepare myself for a husband and family and one of the ways I am doing this is by making space in my home for them.  This month I am starting in my bathroom.
• Attend my dentist appointments with courage and bravery | The dentist terrifies me!!  But I go twice a year because I know that it is a part of looking after my body. A week before Christmas I had my six month check up and unfortunately I need to have my wisdom tooth surgically removed. The appointments will probably be this month hence my goal.
• Budget and track my expenses | Last year I got a little slack with the whole budgeting thing so I am recommitting to creating and tracking against a budget each month.

For 2017, I am going with Whole as my One Little Word.

This is my fourth year of participating in Ali Edwards One Little Word project with my words over the years being Intention, Open, Brave and now Whole. This is one of my most favorite projects, both in taking part in the monthly prompts but also in the changes that it brings about in my day to day life.

The last few months of 2016, I have been struggling with this feeling like my life is missing something. I know what that "something" is but it isn't within my control to change. As this feeling continued to gnaw at me, some questions began percolating in my heart...

"What does it mean for me to live a whole life? What does a whole life feel like and look like? If this dream that my heart desires never materializes for me, then how do I live a life that feels complete; that feels whole rather than living every day feeling like I am missing something?"

This year I am planning to approach these questions by looking at the pieces of my life that make up the whole.  I want to identify what those pieces are and how they currently work together. I want to consider how each of those pieces are as individual pieces...do I need to release any ideas or expectations about any of them, spend more time focusing on any specific ones, are any pieces missing and what can I do if that is the case?  I also want to figure out where contentment and acceptance fit into this and how can I do those well?

Some of those pieces that have been floating around my thoughts include my whole health (whole foods, weight resistance, cardio, sleep, self care, rest and stress management), experiencing an emotionally whole life (celebrating things big and small, sitting with my emotions even if they are difficult ones, marveling in adventures and new experiences) and impacting my community, both close to home and far away.

My hope is that this word will help me to live both the length and width of my life

I came across a quote by Steve Goodier around the middle of last year, shortly after attending my friends father-in-laws' funeral.  As time went on, the words in this quote captured precisely how I was feeling, what I had rolling around inside of me.

"I want to die living. And I want to be remembered as one who lived with purpose, joy and feeling. I want to spend my time learning what goes into a whole and happy life, then building that life the best I can."  

If this is the first that you have heard of the powersheets or if you weren't able to get your hands on a copy don't worry, Lara is doing a mini series on her blog which you can follow along with. Another thing that Lara encourages you to do is to pick a word. I have taken part in Ali Edwards One Little Word project for three years now and have signed up for my fourth year. By the end of November I already new what my 2017 word would be (I will share more about this in January) so this part of the process was already taken care of.

Next and finally came the actual goal setting and this year I feel like these goals are REALLY going to be stretching me.In all honesty, they are rather scary but I truly believe that these are where I need to start. What I really liked, and what relieved some of the pressure to get these goals "perfect", was that the powersheets book has a quarterly reset section. This gives me the freedom to tweak and change my goals if I feel they need to be. For now though, here are my 2017 goals:

01 | Waste less time in front of the TV and spend that time doing something that fires me up because I want to take better care of myself which meas no hiding in front of the TV. I plan to do this by having a TV cut off time, actually plan activities that fire me up, spend some time reading and create a night time routine that works for me.

02 | Impact my wider community by raising £4053 for A21 to use to help set someone free from human trafficking while continuing with my local volunteering because I want to make a different in other peoples lives. I plan to do this by researching different ways to raise money, set up a Go Fund Me page and execute the plans decided on.

03 | Learn and explore what it means for me to truly live a life that is whole because I want to live and experience a full life. I plan to do this by completing Ali Edwards One Little Word prompts each month, blog about what I am learning along this journey, take part in a weekly photography project and take the time to celebrate all that life has to offer.

04 | Dive deeper into my relationship with God and remember that it is about relationship and not about performing, tasks or legalism because I want to really know God and have Him be a part of my every day life.  I plan to do this by tracking my prayers and God's answers, spending time in bible studies, reading books, praying and exploring what a whole relationship with God looks like.

05 | Figure out what it really means to care for myself mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually and how to do it more often because I need to look after myself before I can care for others fully.  I plan to do this through spending time in worship and prayer, by replacing Satan's lies with biblical truth, sitting with my emotions more, enjoying pamper sessions and taking the time to create.

06 | Nourish my body well more consistently and focus on building strength and flexibility in my body because I want to be honoring God with the body He has given me. I plan to do this by only getting on the scale once a month, track the consistency of both my nutrition and body movement, create weekly meal plans, create a well rounded exercise plan and attend all doctor and dentist appointments as required.

07 | Share meaningful content and impact others by purposefully using my blog and any platform God gives me because I want to improve my writing skills and impact others while building a community. I plan to do this by deciding on reoccurring content, pray and set a blog schedule and routine.

08 | Research and create a plan for my long term/retirement needs because I want to be a good steward of what I have been given. I plan to do this by researching different retirement plans, speak to a financial planner, learn about the stock market and continue to budget monthly.

09 | Cultivate richer relationships while taking the time to make new ones because God made me for relationship. I plan to do this by scheduling friend dates, making an effort to connect with friends I haven't seen or spoken to in a while, make an effort to meet new people and have people around my house for a meal more often.

10 | Prepare myself to be a wife and mother while I trust and wait on God's timing for this area of my life because I want to continue trusting God in this area and be prepared for what He has for me in the future.  Some ideas on how to do this include read articles and books on marriage, consistently pray for my future husband and children and clear my home of clutter and excess to make room when the time comes.

I plan to document my monthly goals and progress and would love for you to encourage me along the way. Make sure you share your own goals and progress with me so that I can encourage and support you as well.