2019 · 2020 · new year · Uncategorized

2020 {The time to rebuild.}

At the end of 2018 I wrote a great post – I love that post, I stand by it and honestly if you want an uplifting advice post for entering the new year HERE IT IS. That one is solid.
But it never played out for me. Yet, I will be using the same strategies going into this new year.

So lets vaguely rehash the year that I’ve just survived…
2019 – I cannot wait to farewell you. Sure there were sprinklings of good in you, but overall you were painful & a year I don’t ever want to relive.

From the first week of 2019 my world just kind of got a bit shit, well that’s a drastic understatement to be honest.
I promise you I had high hopes going into 2019, everything I wrote in THIS post was truth – but it barely lasted a month. My world fell apart.
During the first month of 2019 I was destroyed & hurt, my mental & emotional health took a huge hit and it all spiralled rapidly downwards and I lost myself. Completely.
This year I’ve dealt with tremendous hurt, my marriage almost ending, being diagnosed with a few new health problems, still being the family asshole because I insist on boundaries in my life, our dear dog passing away, a friendship break up, being in the darkest place I’ve ever been in, making mistakes, being hurt, being angry, being devastated, nearly selling our home – which comes with it’s own heartbreak & stress, becoming a FIFO family, being tremendously heartbroken – all while having very little support but still trying to be “fine”.
I did thankfully have a couple of dear friends who were great this year – but for the majority of this year, I rode it solo. Because everyone has their own problems & they did not need mine, so while some friends knew what was happening – I didn’t feel ok unloading all of my emotions on them. I was always “fine”. I rarely ever was.
I took every hit, hurt & break by myself all while holding our life together & making sure everyone else was doing ok. Because that’s what Mums do. Inside of us is collapsing and failing – but life keeps going – I do not have time to break down, because I had no one else to pick up the pieces. Me falling apart means our life falling apart and my little people didn’t need that at all. That couldn’t and wouldn’t happen. I had no choice but to carry it. Life had to continue as normal. I had to be fine.
This year I felt was almost my last. Almost. There were times I truly questioned why even bother. My sense of value in myself was nonexistent. I felt worthless.
I was destroyed completely, my sense of self, self worth, self love and everything I stood for – was totally obliterated.
There were times I didn’t know what way was up and I felt like I just was watching the car wreck happen. I cried more this year than I have probably ever cried.
For most of 2019 I no longer knew who I was. I lost me. She was gone.
But it turned around. To my surprise.
I couldn’t sell our house – just could not do it. I love our home, I love the people in the home. I love that on the framework of this home are prayers that I wrote for our family, for us – words I truly believe in. I refused to let it go. Perhaps that was a turning point, but things started improving in all areas and they continue to do so.
The details & specifics of everything that took place in 2019 are ours and we owe not one single person any explanation – but I will share we are in a better place and perhaps what happened this year needed to?
I will never understand why this horrific year took place and it pains me to say it but maybe – just maybe God had a plan. A damn bizarre one that I am saying “wtf” to, but hey it’s all come full circle.
I share this because I know this year I was not alone and I don’t want anyone else to feel as alone as I have.
I have known many, MANY women and couples going through really similar struggles. It just seems like 2019 was the year to nearly break us all. I have hardly heard from anyone that “2019 was so wonderful & easy…” – everyone seems to be on the side of saying “hasta la vista 2019, you were a bitch of a year..”

So how am I approaching 2020? What are my resolutions? Goals? What will I improve? What are my expectations?
Well, I will link back toTHIS post and I will steal a section of it because it’s still how I wish to view things…
“In this new year I want to be intentional.
Intentional with my faith, marriage, parenting, words, our money, my choices, my health, my thoughts – just overall be more intentional.”

I believe in second chances. So here is another shot for me to work on that from last year.
But honestly I’m walking into 2020 with no expectations, goals or grand plans for the new year. What will happen, will happen – I know I can’t control it but I know I can handle hard things, because honestly I’m sick of surviving hard years, but it seems to be what gets thrown at me continually. But it does constantly remind me I can do this.
I can survive hard things, on my own.
I am strong, I am determined & I am capable.
Dreaming & wishing – I would love, LOVE an easy year. A year that consisted of very little personal hurt – but like I said “dreaming…”
I’m not setting myself any resolutions “I must do” – I just want me to be ok again. That is my main focus, getting back to me – in whatever way I need to, to whoever that now is.
I can feel myself coming back, but I know I have work to do.
I want to rebuild my confidence, my self worth, my heart, my marriage & my spirit.
So maybe that is a resolution? Just to rebuild. Rebuild it all. Start fresh, make it strong & beautiful.
So I will gladly farewell 2019 tonight and welcome 2020 with an open heart and arms, with the hope to rebuild and the desire to be more intentional with every aspect of my life.
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Thank you for sticking with me this year, I know I have been all over the place and a bit of a fyre fest. Your support and kindness means the world.
Thank you.
I pray 2020 is a beautiful & joyful year for you and your family – as hopefully it is for me & mine.
Happy New Year.

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Edit; So I just opened my insta and this post from @momentaryhappiness was the first on my feed. Coincidence – maybe, but it seems fitting and like I was meant to read it after writing all of that. And honestly it made me a bit teary – it felt like a sign, if you believe in that. x

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2018 · 2019 · new year · reflection · resolutions · Uncategorized

Tips on how to have a great year & my goals for 2019.

2018 only has hours left and then we are presented with a brand new year. A year to make our own…

These are my tops tips on how to make 2019 a great year! Yes every year will have hardships and challenges, but we can strive to still make it great and just remember hard times build strength and character!

  1. Review 2018… Go back over the last year, work out what worked best for you and what didn’t. What people lifted you up and who was toxic? What habits made you feel better and which made you feel worse? Assess every aspect of your life, note down what worked and didn’t. Be mindful of these entering the new year and try to do more of the good in 2019.
  2. Set your focus. For some people resolutions work best, for others vision boards, prophetic words or phrases. Whatever works best for you, set it.
  3. Improve your health in someway. We should always work towards better health, perhaps this year you can focus on eating better, drinking more water, visiting the doctor for that check up you keep putting off, quitting a bad habit, seeing the dentist – whatever it is – make it a priority – our health is so important.
  4. Be active – this goes along with point 1, but reflect on your past year and work out what activity you enjoyed most and do more of it! It could be walking, hiking, maybe the gym motivates you, family bike rides or yoga – being active is so incredibly important.
  5. Improve where you live – our living environment reflects and effects our mental state. Work out ways to positively impact your environment, perhaps try organising your home more, decluttering, making a cleaning schedule etc.

So how do I plan to make 2019 a great year?
By following this…

Ice Cream Party (3)

2018 was a huge year for us, it was huge, busy, chaotic, stressful, exciting, worrying, upsetting and fun and I’m tired from it, so tired.
2019, I want to slow us down, I want to rest, I want less chaos.
In this new year I want to be intentional.
Intentional with my faith, marriage, parenting, words, our money, my choices, my health, my thoughts – just overall be more intentional.
I want to slow everything down, 2019 will still be a big year for us with LuLu starting prep but I want to try TRY and have a calm & slow year. So implementing more organisation, planning & simplifying into our lives, avoiding unnecessary stress & drama, saying “no” more and just allowing space for more quiet in my life.
I also want to grow in 2019, I feel I’ve grown tremendously in the last 2 years – every year we evolve but this year I want to channel my growth into certain areas… I want to grow  in my faith, I pray for more patience and wisdom for my mothering, I want to grow ModernWifeLife31, I can’t physically grow any taller – haha – but I do want to continue to grow personally & emotionally. Every year I aim to grow more, learn more and become stronger.
So that’s my focus for 2019.
I know what bought me great stress & heartache in 2018 and I plan to steer clear of it in the new year. I plan to continue working on improving my health with my specialist, I also want to see a doctor about my back as I have scoliosis, I need to book us all in to see a dentist for a check up and I know we need a skin check up too!
Yoga and walking is something I want to do more of. I really enjoy the calmness of yoga and a yoga class is a nice treat for myself, we live in a nice area and I want to take advantage of that and go for more walks and make it a weekly habit.
As for our home, I feel I am going into 2019 with a clean and organised home – I’ve spent the time between boxing day and new years eve cleaning and organising our home, our space has been reset and we are ready to enter 2019. But we will continue to work on landscaping our block and decorating our home. I also want to continue to declutter our home.
But that’s about it, I have my same general list I stick to each year as well which you can read on THIS blog. 

Well friends, in a few short hours 2019 will be here, I hope 2018 is a year you can look back on fondly even if it’s just knowing you’ve left stronger than how you entered it. And I pray 2019 is a beautiful & great year for you.

Happy New Year, Bring on twenty nineteen! (This is the last year in our lifetime that we will have a year ending in teens!)

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2017 · new year · resolutions · Uncategorized

Flourish with grace.

It is almost twenty eighteen! I can remember ringing in the New Year in 2000 – and now it’s 2018! So I am getting in early and wishing you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!
2017 has just over 12 hours remaining, I feel like this year was over in a second – but I also feel it dragged on in parts…
This year has been a pretty massive one for our little family…
Just a few weeks out from the end of 2016 we welcomed our 2nd baby and 2017 was an exciting year of being a family of 4. A number we feel is perfect for us.
We put our house on the market, patiently (kind of) waited for it to sell and then packed up and moved to a completely new town and bought a block of land which we will build on in 2018.
So that was basically our year… How was yours?

Going into 2018, the idea of having a word to focus on/be inspired by for the New Year appealed to me.
But what word? I adore countless words, this year is going to be a massive one for us and gosh, this feels like a lot of pressure – picking one word… So I will be a rebel and break the trend of 1 word and pick two, heck I may even make it a sentence.

Flourish & Grace.

In 2018 I want to flourish.
2016 & 2017 was all about growth for me, they were rough years – full of times I didn’t think I could or would survive. From everything from health issues, to betrayal, hurt, sadness, stress, anger and exhaustion. But you know what? I am sitting here on the 31st of December, 2017 and I am thankful to God for my struggles. I write this as someone who has grown tremendously in the past year. I shared some thoughts about this on my social media & you can read it HERE.
So, if 2017 was a year for big growth, 2018 will be my year to flourish. My environment is more positive this year, I’ve rid my everyday of hurtful people, I’m motivated & determined. So I’m ready to flourish and positively grow even more.
And I want to flourish with grace, I know the reason I can grow is because of His grace.
So, 2018 is my year that Because of His grace, I will flourish with grace. 

Ice Cream PartyHaving my little statement to inspire me, helps me focus on what I hope to achieve in 2018. Basically I want to flourish in every aspect of my life. Keeping flourish & grace in mind these are somethings I plan to work on this year…

  • Growing this little blog even more, helping it flourish.
  • Encouraging others and sharing my story. I want to aim to live my best life, while encouraging others to do the same.
  • Taking better care of me. Being more conscious of what goes into my body and how I am taking care of it and also taking more care of my mental & emotional health.
  • Giving myself grace.
  • Helping my little love LuLu flourish in her first year away from me.
  • Growing more in my faith.
  • Being even more confident in my decisions – which is a big one considering in 2018 we will building our home, and that’s full of decision making!
  • Go on more adventures.
  • Make our new home a home.
  • Do more of what I love and continue to learn.

Now these are fairly vague – there are a lot of little things that fall under these categories – but I prefer to stay very general and not have hard & set things set for an entire year. Each month I plan to reevaluate and set goals to accomplish for that period, this list will probably explode during the year.
What are your goals/resolutions/word/s for 2018? Let me know in the comments below or on my social media.

So 2018, I’m ready for you… Let’s do this, let’s Flourish with Grace.

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honesty · new year · reflection

Happy New Year. {Reflection on 2015}

A lot can happen in a year.

I am typing this on the 2nd last day of 2015… 2015 is almost done, what? I swear I was just typing my 2015 resolutions up… But here we are right on the cusp of 2016, it is almost here and to be honest I am kinda glad… 
As I type this I have a candle burning and a glass of champs – because we are talking about this year and about a New Year and things may get all feely and nothing brings out the feels like bubbles and candles… To be honest, the glass of champs may turn into glasses… 
So, in honour of farewelling 2015, I thought I would sum this year up…
In a few words it was;
Lovely. Fun. Beautiful. Hard. Heartbreaking. Frustrating. Challenging and Glorious. 
But that’s life isn’t it? 
A glorious, beautiful fun mess that can break your heart one second and make you want to jump for joy the next. Well, that’s how it is for me…
I said before I am kinda glad 2015 is over, the past few months for us have been rough. Actually this years kind of been challenging. But the last few months have been exceptionally ridiculous in the “can it get any worse” state… Like it went from bad, to horrifically depressing, to one punch after another. Just as we were struggling to pull ourselves up it felt like we were being slammed back down… That’s been the feeling for these past few months, like we just cannot catch a break. But we are confident 2016 is a better year for us. 
I cannot wait to embrace 2016, I am waiting for it to arrive and when it gets here, it is getting one big “praise the Lord you are here” hugs – and I am not a hugger. 
Before it arrives though let’s shine the light on this year… 
During 2015;

I started a new blog, Modern Wife Life 31. We completed another year of parenting. Were blown away by the most amazing little human in the world and thank God every day for her. Went on our first family holiday. LuLu saw the beach and swam in the ocean for the first time. Dealt with our daughter being unwell for the first time. Completed a 4km fun run as a family. LuLu & I took part in a protest march to support Trent’s job. Ate venison for the first time. I won a photography competition. I got my firearms license. Purchased 2 new guns. Went deer hunting & got a deer with Trent on Mother’s Day. Weaned LuLu at 20months and 3 days. Saw snow for the first time as a family (Trent and I had never seen it before). I turned 27. Started moving towards living a slower and simpler life. We moved LuLu into her big girl room. Celebrated our darling girl turning 2. Welcomed back people into our lives. Dealt with unimaginable pain that we wish on no one. Had my first “paid” article published on NineMSN. Let go of people who weren’t good for us. I cut my hair off. We showed LuLu real life deer. Had an image I took published on a newsletter that is circulated through out our local region. Celebrated Christmas. Remained strong despite everything we have faced. Prayed, prayed hard – through the good and the bad we prayed and stayed thankful.

2015 has been a year of learning. Learning that we can’t plan life and it will rarely go the way we think it should. Somethings that happen in life can’t be fixed, sometimes pain doesn’t heal – you just learn to live with it. I learned that in life, you can be so full of joy one day and devastated the next and more often than not the things that devastate us are out of our control. I’ve learned that things do happen for a reason and when they are happening we can never see why, eventually it makes sense though. I know that anyone can get through rough times, as long as you have the attitude to keep searching for the good and you are surrounded by those that you love and that love you. 
This year had more good than bad, but the bad seemed to all roll in at the end and just keep knocking us down… But we’ve dusted ourselves off, we’ve stood up and 2016 is ours.

I know this is a New Years post and with New Years post you are meant to include resolutions, but I haven’t finalised mine yet… Mine will most likely stay similar to my goals for 2015 that I wrote about here…  But they will be included in a post in the New Year…
What are your resolutions? 

Well, I think I should head to bed – I’ve had an exhausting day of totally deep cleaning my entire house with LuLu, I decided there is no better way to bring in the new year than a nice clean home complete with freshly washed bedding – so I am going to go crawl into bed and read a book.
I hope you enjoy your last day of 2015.
I pray 2016 is a year for you filled with joy and magic, peace and laughter and of course love. I hope your dreams come true and you experience good madness and your heart is full of happiness. I hope you surround yourself with people who think you are wonderful and that you adore. I hope you get to read many great books and create something you love. Most of all I hope 2016 is a year that you take time for you, you step out of your comfort zone – even if it’s just a toe outside of it and that you surprise yourself. Be courageous and confident – 2016 is 366 new chances to go after what you want, to do what you wish and live the life you dream of. 
I thank you all so much for your support during my first year back blogging. 
Stay safe and cheers.

I survived because fire inside me burned brighter than the fire around me. – Joshua Graham.