Making Life Better {One Little Word 2017}

Since choosing my One Little Word for 2017, Better, I've not really mentioned it much. I've found, once more, that for the first few months with a new word that I internalise it - really thinking about what the word means to me - before I start to 'use' it.

At the end of January, I wrote a list of five areas of my life that I would like to improve and, how each of those areas could be 'better'. Those areas are: Relationships; Health, Home; Work/Life Balance and Finances. For each area, I decided on five things that I could achieve in 2017 that would make life feel better. I should note that I'm aiming for slow, overall improvement. I know that life won't be better simply by wishing for it and that lasting change takes time.

In February I moved house and, of course, this meant that I spent most of the month focusing on one of my five areas - home. Spending fifteen minutes each day on a house/home related task (sometimes as simple as washing up or doing the laundry) really helped me to focus on my word and on making small incremental improvements that add up over time. I mean really, what's fifteen minutes, when I could easily spend that time browsing Pinterest?

It's in March, when I decided to focus on 'me', that I started to find it difficult. I intended to address some Health and Work/Life Balance issues, by simply spending fifteen minutes each day focused on something entirely for me. That shouldn't have been difficult. Fifteen minutes less laundry (or Pinterest) and fifteen minutes more 'me time'. But, after a strong start of bubble baths and new books, I found that I couldn't consistently choose myself, when so many other areas needed attention. 

The best thing about One Little Word is that this doesn't count as a failure. It's simply made me realise that I find it difficult to look after myself and I'm working on it! And there's still a lot of 2017 left!