Looking back on this last year

As I reflect on the past year I can’t help but think of how hard this year has been. We have been through A LOT as a family. We sacrificed a lot as a family. We dealt with things I never thought in a million years we would have to deal with. From endless sickness, to things I can’t even talk about, we have been through the wringer…

Then I look back on my blog posts, my Instagram stories and my YouTube videos from 2022 and more than once I was greeted with a terrible knot in my gut because I felt like a failure. So many times I didn’t do what I said I was going to do. Daily challenges I gave up on, posts I said I was going to share but didn’t, and videos that were supposed to be filmed but never got done. It made me think to myself “why would anyone follow me or care what I have to say.” I felt guilty looking back and seeing that I didn’t follow through so many times.

I could rattle off a thousand excuses why things didn’t get done. I’m a mother to 6 after all, I think we know how motherhood can often throw a wrench in our plans….and then it hit me, why am I trying to plan or do anything other than be fully devoted to being a wife and mother?

Social media posting has been something I have loved to do since social media was a thing. Yup, I had Xanga and MySpace. And over the years it has been wonderful to be able to turn that fun pass time of posting online, into an actual business that provides substantially for my family. But as much as I love creating fun content online, “social media influencer” isn’t my highest calling; being wife and mother is.

And then I look back on my posts from 2022 again, and I see it from a different lens. I put my family first in 2022. During the hard times, I was able to focus on what was most important. I wanted so badly to be able to ‘do it all’, but when I couldn’t, I was able to focus on the top priorities in my life, my husband and children. So if the test was to live fully in my vocation, I guess I didn’t fail after all.

Now looking back my perspective is different. The enemy wants me to focus on all of the hard parts of 2022 and all of my failures. But instead I am going to focus on God’s providence through it all. 2022 will be a year I will NEVER forget for so many reasons. In 2022 my business took off, we were able to buy a new vehicle cash, we had so many fun adventures, we loved, we loss, we bought the home of our dreams, and to top it off, my sweet little son Tommy was born. What joy we experienced in 2022. God has provided for us when we really didn’t know how things were going to work out. True miracles and blessings upon blessings. 

 

Things are going to look different in 2023

Through the lessons I learned in 2022, I plan on making many changes in 2023. Of course I have personal goals, and financial goals, and family goals, and health goals but I wanted to share about my social media “This Mama’s House” goals with you.

If you’re here reading this blog post, that is a great start because growing this blog is my number one goal for This Mama’s House this year. I have had the dream since 2012 to be a “blogger” and I’m pretty sure that requires posting more than a couple times. So looking forward, I will be spending most of my online time, right here on this website, writing my little heart out. I hope you come back again and again, and that this page can provide lots of value for you. I want this blog to be an awesome resource for mamas and I plan to add 100 posts this year.

The next thing on my social media plan for 2023 is to upload at least 1 video a week to YouTube, no matter what! I love YouTube so much and I really am looking forward to the low pressure, but also consistency, of my goal of posting once a week.

That’s it! Those are my two goals. Maybe it sounds simple but blogging is going to require a much different creative process than I’m used to. So I’m just going to focus on my blog and YouTube channel.

It will be hard for me, but I am also planning on spending a lot *less* time on Instagram and Facebook and any other phone time sucks. I find I spend too much time scrolling and checking out what other people are doing when I am on those platforms. I love documenting my day in stories, and chatting with my friends, but I find the scrolling is starting to take time away from more important things. There is only so much time I can spend online a day with a household my size to run, so I want that time to be spent on more productive things like this blog and YouTube. I hope I can find a good balance to still share but not waste time. I think I will focus on the phrase “less consuming content, more creating content.”

What about You?

What about you? How are you choosing to look back on 2022, are you going to look at the hard times as failures, or chances for you to learn and grow? Are you going to focus on the bad or the good?

New Years Day is one of my favorite days of the year. I love a fresh start and new beginnings. It’s such an opportunity to reflect and adapt and recognize a need for change in your life. It’s a great time to pick up a new habit, set a new goal, and resolve to make a change. It’s the perfect time to leave negative thoughts behind, and drop any bad habits. Yes, you can make a change any day of the year, but January 1st just feels like a blank slate. Thank you Jesus for new beginnings! No matter what happens in 2023, all glory and honor goes to God. If I do anything for you in the coming year, I hope I can point you to Him.

Happy New Year Friend!