After an unscheduled, & VERY long, break from the blogging world, I am back y’all! Let’s recap 2019 real quick, & find out WHY I disappeared for half the year:

I started off 2019 with great, yet attainable goals, & a year long plan & calendar scheduled to help me achieve them, & did mostly well at keeping up with that plan for the first half of the year. However, when I’m not mommin’ or blogging & working on all the work from home duties, my outside the home job is as an emergency dispatcher- full time at one police department, & part time at two others (just picked up the second part time job last year). Over this past year, the full time job became very short-handed, which meant a LOT of overtime. With working 12 hour overnights & hardly a day off (One two week pay period this summer had 52 hours of overtime!), I was pretty much just working & sleeping & hardly seeing my kids, let alone finding time to write & work on personal goals outside of work.

Looking back over the past year, I learned a few things from spending more time at work than home:

1) It’s not worth your sanity! Not like I really had a choice in it- the shifts had to be filled, & we were short staffed; but, especially in my line of work- it’s really not worth the sacrifice of time with family or time for your self-care. The stress will cause you to become someone neither you nor anyone else wants to be around (My work bestie even coined the nickname “Monster Gerri” during the endless overtime. Yes, it was THAT bad). Which leads to the next thing I learned:

2) Self-care is important! Just as you can’t help someone who won’t help themselves, you can’t care for others without first caring for yourself- & caring for others is kind of my thing- caring for my kids, answering 911 phones & sending help, & always looking for ways to help & encourage other single mommas. Your spiritual, mental, & physical health MUST be priority- In that order! Speaking of spiritual health:

3) Have you ever heard the saying that you become like the five people you spend the most time with? Well after spending the majority of the past year working 12 hour overnights, seeing my coworkers more than my family, I can attest to this! And especially doing so working in the law enforcement environment- if you’re not careful, it really will affect you in many ways, & the behaviors & language of others WILL rub off on you- & I noticed it most in the way that I speak, & seeing myself act out of character in other areas in which I had begun to grow impatient & tired in the waiting process.. Which leads me to the biggest lesson I learned in 2019:

4) WAIT ON GOD! He loves you & will show you mercy if you make mistakes along the way, yes- but the consequences of your mistakes won’t be worth it. Waiting on God’s best, THAT will be worth it. When you finally get what you’ve been praying, believing, & waiting for, you will be so thankful that you stood firm. Don’t be like me- don’t let the sum of everything going on in your life affect you & cause you to slip up in the waiting. Wait on God’s promise & skip the avoidable problems along the way.

Heading in to the new year, I’ve heard my pastor call it “2020 the year of plenty” a few times, & I’ve decided that’s going to be my hashtag for the year. I’m believing that this coming year is going to be a year of breakthrough & prosperity in every area- health, finances, family, everything! I’m also wise enough to know that you can’t just sit back & wait for it, you have to take steps of faith towards receiving it. After taking the time to reflect on 2019, I have two specific areas to focus on for #2020YearOfPlenty:

1) Self-care – my spiritual, mental , & physical health are top priority this year, & I’m not compromising them for anything or anyone anymore.

2) Time management & organization – staying on track in this area is key to maintaining a healthy work/life balance & also staying consistent in personal goals outside of work.

I think keeping focused on these two areas should help me be well on my way in continuing to grow in my faith walk & receive all that God has for my family & I the year ahead.

What is the greatest lesson you learned in 2019, & what areas are you planning to stay focused on in the year ahead? If you had to chose a hashtag to set the “theme” for your new year, what would it be? (Feel free to steal mine 😉 lol)

-Walking by Faith Into the Blessings of the New Year, Gerri