A Review of my One Little Word 2013 :: Grow

Over the past year I've been on a journey to include GROW, my One Little Word, as a core part of my life. I wrote about using this process at the start of 2013 and mid way through the year. I will be using it once again in 2014 to help me bring certain things into my life this year because the process last year has changed me...

One Little Word, it is an online class delivered by the fabulous and inspiring Ali Edwards. Ali is a super talented memory keeper and was the first blogger to inspire me to do Project Life. Each year Ali delivers her One Little Word course about choosing a word and bringing that word into your life. Inspired by her passion and her long running course I decided in January 2013 to start a new tradition each year to follow this class. It didn't disappoint, it brought huge change into my life.

On the first of each month Ali delivered an inspiring video chat about our focus for the month ahead with our word, and provided resources related to the journalling prompts so we could explore the word in more detail through writing, planning and getting creative.

At the start of the class we created twelve intentions for the year that I used to help shape the year ahead. The intentions I decided on for me proved a pathway for my journey through the year. I wanted to GROW. I was able to focus my thoughts on how I wanted to progress with my word during the year...instead of new year's resolutions I used these monthly intentions for 2013…

Grow closer

Grow my savings

Grow creativity

Grow up
Grow stronger

Grow and bloom

Courage to grow

Grow wiser

Grow a new seed

Make time to grow

Grow a cosy home

Grow an idea

It’s hard to know where to begin to tell you how influential the year was with the course and my progress with my word. What happened was a truly inspiring year for me. It has been a private journey...I've written in my journal about how I got on with my word during the year, talked to some of my closest friends and family about my word, and each month taken time a look back at the intentions to keep myself on track.

Surprisingly each of these twelve areas found themselves into parts of my life last year, many meaning different things to me personally than what may be obvious when you look at the list. What happened for me was a transformation and big change. I wont go into detail here, it really is just for me and my diary, but what I will say is that this process is an inspired way to bring into your life new things and make your word truly part of you.

When December arrived last year I was truly saddened that it was my last month of my word. I know that GROW will be there in the background, never forgotten and always impacting. I can’t say goodbye to GROW. The changes and everything the word brought into my life, and the influence it had on me, will always be there. Grow enabled me to explore new things, it got me to where I am in life right now.

Thank you Ali for a truly inspiring year! Onwards for 2014 with my new word for the year and another year of being inspired...

A New Year :: My One Little Word for 2013

The start of a new year is so refreshing, it's the dawn of a new period in time. New Year signals the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and bring a fresh approach to the time ahead. Of course you can do this at any time during the year, but New Year for me is a sign that I should take time to reflect on the years that have passed and think about how I want to shape the time ahead.

For me, it's about hanging a blank calendar on the wall ready to be filled with new opportunities, creating the year I want. Whether it's a change I want to make, new experiences I hope to have or new things I would like to achieve, it feels that there really are endless possibilities to come in time ahead...This is what I love about a new year. 

I love making lists. Taking time to write a new year resolutions list is something I always do, as it's one of the most important lists of my year! This list isn't rushed, isn't ticked off in a few weeks and is never thrown away. The changes or goals set will help shape me and my life ahead. I love to keep my new year resolution lists from years gone by to see what hopes and dreams I had each year. It makes me smile when I see how the list changes over time.

During the past few weeks I've spent time thinking about my list for 2013. With the rush of Christmas, New Year and the first week back at work over, I've had time to think. We have had endless cloudy days and lots of rain, so a welcome return of clear skies has brought with it a little more clarity in my thinking. I have taken a little longer than normal to think about what I truly want for the year. Last year I managed to kick start my creative goals with a list of what I wanted to do in 2012. I achieved so much more than I thought I would, you can see a little summary here.

...This year the list will be a little different...

In September I discovered scrapbooking. I have been making a few cards on and off for a while and I started looked at a few blogs for papercrafting inspiration and supplies when I came across scrapbooking. I was drawn to the beautiful way that people track their memories using journalling, patterned paper and photos. Over the past few months scrapbooking has manifested itself for me as a way I can reflect on my day to day, a great way to journal about my memories and is a fun way to use the photos I take. I signed up for a few online classes, shopped around for tools and paper supplies, read inspiring scrapbooking blogs, and listened to papercrafting podcasts. I feel that scrapbooking is such a great way to track your everyday memories, so I decided to start Project Life as a way to scrapbook and I'm really enjoying it.

The discovery of scrapbooking has brought with it a new way to think about how I write my resolutions list. This year I hope to use the notion of choosing one word to help me shape my year ahead. If you haven't heard of it take a look at this post by Ali Edwards. Ali Edwards is a super talented scrapbooker and a big name within the scrapbooking community. Ali runs a year long online class called One Little Word run by Big Picture Classes. One Little Word is about picking a word that you want to be part of your life for the year ahead and beyond.

I've spent time exploring the words I could use, my favourites were focus, balance, grow and create. I took time to really think about my one little word for 2013...I chose the word 'Grow'. It really resonates with me... 

Starting this blog came from the word grow. I wanted to grow the time I spent being creative, developing my creativity and my practical skills. Grow was a key word behind the name of my blog too, The Pink Button Tree means something to me, it's not just a name. For me the word pink symbolises being vibrant, happy and full of love. The button symbolises my creativity and desire to become well rounded, practical and crafty. It's a button with four holes; one for making, one for baking, one for gardening and one for home ideas. The tree symbolises my desire to continually grow my creative skills and knowledge every day...I want to grow into a wise old oak tree passing my knowledge on through the many acorns I pass on over the years. It's the chance to plant a seed and enable others grow, so they can do something they are inspired by each day.

...I know that I have a long way to go on my journey. To grow is what I really want from this year.

Following the structure of One Little Word, I have set myself 12 intentions for the year. They are like resolutions but are statements using the word grow that I want to focus on every month. Having a monthly intention is a great way to keep the momentum and clarity of my aims and resolutions in a more permanent but relaxed way during the year.

Grow will mean that I'll be doing more of the same, developing new projects, growing my abilities, planting a few new seeds to try something new. I'm keen to bake and cook more, growing my experience of cooking so I have a wider set of things I can make. I'm planning to make more projects for our home to grow our home into an even cosier space. I constantly see things I want to try and make so I want to grow my crafty skills going forwards. I'm not setting myself specific projects I want to create this year as I think this may add too much structure, I want to see where things take me so I can grow in whatever direction things take me.

I wanted to wish you all a very happy new year. Thank you so much for reading my blog. I've been overwhelmed by how many of you have visited it over the past year, your comments and page views really spur me on. Please do leave comments as I'd love to hear your thoughts.

...So onwards with the word grow...What will be your word for 2013?