My Word of the Year - 2017

I hope my presence here after nearly two months hasn't come as too much of a surprise! I've had a semi-conscious break from blogging over the past few weeks, somewhat because my part time bakery job ended up being vey much full time in the lead up to the effective period, and also because, as I'd hinted at towards the end of 2016, I was feeling a little burnt out and needed some time to relax and reflect on what I wanted The Salted Tail to become in future. 

During December I was lucky enough to win an hour long coaching call with Kat Molesworth, founder of Blogtacular and positive fountain of knowledge and inspiration! It was awesome and I've now got some really clear ideas about the future of the blog, but (big but!) they all need some careful planning and lots of time dedicated to them, so I've sort of accepted that while I'll still be around, I won't be launching back into three posts a week right away! 

That being said, I wanted to write a few thoughts about the word I've chosen to guide myself through the coming year. This is the third year I've done Susannah Conway's 'Find Your Word' course, and this year my word was pretty concrete almost immediately! The first year I chose a word, I settled on 'Brave.' The second year, I went for 'Clarity' and it helped me to narrow down what it was I wanted and where I was heading. Last year, the word 'Become' reminded me that now I knew where I was heading, every decision I made and every action I took should be helping me to 'become' all those versions of me I was aspiring to be. I changed A LOT last year and certainly became very different in a lot of ways. 

When thinking about my word for this year, I felt like I needed to build on that, to use the place I reached last year as a platform to grow from. For a short while, I toyed with the word 'build', but I needed something that related to every aspect of my life, something that would remind me to look after myself, my work life balance and my home. So, my word for 2017 is....

Nurture is a very common choice I know, and I've seen several people using it over the past couple of years, so I was actually a little surprised when it presented itself to me so definitely as usually I would be put off my something already so widely used. I think it will be really helpful though - already I've caught myself scrolling through my phone for too long, talking to myself in a negative way or reaching for a convenient but not great lunch option and have been able to ask myself 'what am I nurturing here?' It can so easily be applied to self care, blogging and our current decorating mission, but can also be useful in deciding what/who I'm saying yes to. I'm hoping to surround myself in positivity this year, and in turn help to nurture those around me too! One thing I've already started enjoying is walking every morning - I've found I can't run anymore since hurting my back, so rather than being annoyed about it I've been replacing it with walking and loving it! I've just been wandering down the lanes around my house and feeling really grateful for the area we live in - I took a couple of quick photos in the surprisingly warm sunlight this morning - so many colours even in the depths of winter! 

I'm hoping this post has broken my unintentional hiatus! Thank you for coming back and reading, and do keep checking back for more exciting developments as the year progresses!