My Intentional Living Journey

A few weeks ago at my local mops group we talked about surviving vs. thriving. I spent much of my early motherhood days surviving. I think we all do. I needed to get through the days the best I could and some days were better than others. But at some point I didn’t want to just survive. I wanted to truly enjoy my time with my kids. I made a choice to change. To make any change in your life, you need to be intentional because you need to think about what you want to do differently and then follow through with your new plan.

I have a few words that I love and often say to remind myself the kind of life I want to lead. This year, I decided to make one of those words my word for 2015. This year is all about being intentional. Living an intentional life means a lot of different things to different people. To me, it means I want to think about the things I do and understand why I am doing them. I want to be intentional with my words, my family, my time and relationships.

Ways I will be intentional in 2015

I want to be intentional with my time with my family. I want to speak kind words to my kids. I want to build them up and not tear them down. I don’t want to tell them to rush because I am running late. I want to put my phone away and just be with them. That takes thought and purpose each day.

I want to be intentional with my relationship with my husband and the family time we have together. Often it can be limited and I want to use that time wisely.

I want to make time for my friendships. I do not want to go months without seeing people because life is busy. I need to intentionally think about them and make efforts to see them.

I want to be intentional about what I put on this blog. I love this blog and my focus for it is to encourage happier mamas.

I need to be intentional with my time. I have opened my own private practice (therapy) and it turns out it is a lot of work and can easily become a full time job just trying to get it going. That is not what I want to do. As someone said to me before, I am slow and steady. I am hoping that is true and being intentional with my time and where I put it will pay off.

I do not want to just get through the day. I want to enjoy my days. I know that when I am more intentional I have happier days. When I think about how my day will go and put into motion ways to make it better, it is better. Not every day is great or every moment, but it is about intentionally doing something different to make it better. What are some ways that you can live more intentionally?

Choose Happiness,

Jessica Lynn

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About the author

Jessica Lynn

Hi, my name is Jessica Lynn. In my "paid" job I am a therapist. After I had my 2 boys, I realized I needed to be taking more of my own advice and really take care of myself. I blog at www.themommyhappinessproject.com with the purpose to encourage moms to take time for self-care. Motherhood is a stressful job, that I believe can be a bit less stressful if we take the time to take care of ourself. Just taking a little time each day can help moms be calmer, more present and happier.