WOTY 2023

For the third year in a row, I've chosen a Word Of The Year.

In 2021, I chose in/inhale/inspire.
In 2022, I chose figure, as in "I will figure it out."
For 2023, I am choosing relax.

I didn't want a self-improvement word.
I didn't want a grandiose word.
I wanted a good reminder word.  

I'm tired of feeling so stressed. I felt stressed throughout infertility and I never came down. Changing careers was stressful. Moving was stressful. Divorce was stressful. The pandemic was stressful. Buying an old house and repairing everything has been stressful. Living life is stressful. 

And I'm tired of being stressed.

"How you do anything is how you do everything."

So, really, I'd just like to relax.

Go to work, run my errands, deal with the car and the house, pay bills, and be thankful for it all.
Do it all with a relaxed state of mind, knowing there will always be stress.

Then study, sew, and sleep. 

I'm not a natural. It will take practice. But that's why I chose it as my WOTY, to remind myself:

relax.

Even though this is a picture of the most difficult pattern I've tried so far, I'm still sharing it on this post because, overall, sewing relaxes me. (If you're a sewing perfectionist, don't look at this picture too hard! I am not a sewing perfectionist, which may be why sewing relaxes me, haha.)