Reflecting on my One Little Word from 2010.....part 1

This was the first year I decided to select a word to guide my year. My word for 2010 was Focus, and I'm pleased to say, for the most part, it's been a very good year, and a very good word for me. Rather than making resolutions I'll quickly break, choosing a word for my whole year, was a great success and I'm looking forward to doing it again in 2011.

Though, at some point, focus gave way to abundance, and then overabundance, and finally overwhelm, the word focus did help guide me to setting some goals for this year, and ultimately achieving them.

I've never been one to set goals for myself, regrettably, but this year, the process has proven to me to be really good idea! One of my main areas of focus has been on to really learn digital scrapbooking, art journaling and photography - my hobbies. Though I had had versions of Photoshop Elements since it's 3rd release, I never learned how to take my paper scrapping to the computer. I shared my entry into to learning this hobby/art here.

By continuing to find more things to learn in this art form, I've opened my life to many amazing rewards.

• I've met some great people online, 
• shared my work in various galleries, 
• been published in 2 books, 
• was published in an online magazine, 
• was interviewed on an art journal blog,
• and, come March 2011, in a "real" paper magazine (one of my digital art journal pages is being published in the Spring 2011 Somerset Digital Studio! One more goal to check off!). 

I also quit my stable job, where I'd been for 5 (unhappy) years, and took a new job, in the same field, at a new company. I'm happier in my career than I've been in many years.

I also started teaching again after a 5 year hiatus (like I'm a TV show, right). As my friend, Peggy often reminds me, if you put it out into the universe, good things happen (I'm paraphrasing, sorry Peggy). Well, I'd applied for a teaching job at this particular college 2 years ago, when I still dreamed being a teacher, and this July, they contacted me.

And though I'm not sharing all the blessings in my life in this post, believe me when I say, others in my family have had their share of successes in 2010, for which I'm grateful.

Focusing on my goals has certainly brought me some confidence and a renewed sense of purpose.

I'm looking forward to sharing my word for 2011 with you tomorrow, and hoping it brings me a new kind of success.