Hey You! What Are You Expecting For 2019? Yes, You!

This isn't just someone's reflection of 2018 but a kick in the pants for you to step it up for 2019 if this year seemed to get away from you. I want you to have everything your heart desires. Why? Because it's fun!

I believe life should be fun, productive, moral and loving. Those are the qualities I strive for. I believe trouble brews when one of these points is out of line for me. The good news about this, I'm in charge of all of it. Yep. Every single choice I make will determine if I get to live the life I'm designing. My choice either leads to or leads away from the life I desire. 

Which brings me to the reflection portion of the post! 2018 was a year of great things happening over here at Blush Out West and for me, Vanessa, personally. The last couple of years I've done a lot of "inner-work", journel writing and diving into who I am, what holds me back from achieving what I say I want and what to do with what I will no longer tolerate in my life. These are big things, but oh so freeing! If you're looking for a great contact to coach you in learning more about yourself and giving you tools to work through things, check out danarivera.com. She's helped me immensely throughout the years!

So after all this work I've done, 2018 saw a lot of things come to fruition for me. A year that I can say I actually felt accomplished! Phew...about time :) Not that I haven't had many great years, but this was a year I felt like I had spot on clarity for what I wanted and then I made it happen. How did I do it? Being crystal clear on what I wanted. Did I get everything I wanted, no, but it was a good start. 

Here's 3 big things I accomplished this year ~ 

• We grew Blush Out West considerably. Those that have followed us, purchased from us, commented on our posts; Thank You, Thank You from the bottom of my heart. We have had so much fun getting to know you and appreciate you more than you'll ever know.                                                                                        
• I said I'd do quarterly vacations and I did! I went to Mexico twice!!. Wren and I went on a girls weekend getaway with friends to Santa Fe and Ojo Caliente Spa (highly recommend). I visited my cousin in Austin and made it to Dallas a couple of times too! We finished out the year, with our family going to South Carolina for Chase's Army Basic Training graduation and took a couple of extra days to visit Charleston (loooooved). I will be going back. Maybe this year it will bi-monthly getaways! 
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• I wrote a book! I've always known I'd write a book but how this one came about was not planned. Three of us with businesses of our own formed a mastermind to hold ourselves accountable for business tasks. Several  months into it we got the notion to write a book together. And we took action immediatley and we wrote a book! It's called Miraclefesting: Inspiring Stories To Help You Recognize And Create Everyday Miracles. If you haven't grabbed your copy, you can here!                                                                                   
• Oh, and I climbed a 14'er. Almost didn't rank that as a big thing!

I've got some BIG plans for 2019. How about you? Here are my 5 pro-tips I use to accomplish what I want to see in my future.

1. Clarity. You have to be 100% sure you want it with no strings attached of how it will happen. Read more about this in our book with lots of other great tips from my co-authors Dana and Jennifer. 
2. Print off pictures of what you want and the emotion behind why you want it and put it on your vision board. It's shocking what comes into being after sitting pretty on a vision board.
3. Make a plan. I write out business and personal goals and then break them into quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily activities and then I write the actions to get there. Make the plan for a weekend getaway. Just book the tickets and make it happen or it's so easy to talk yourself out of why you shouldn't go somewhere. 
4. Use a planner and a big wall calendar. I like seeing something written out in front of me because I'm such a visual person and do better with writing something out. I put "write blog post" on the day I want to release it each month. And for weekly tasks it's been very helpful for me to see it on paper week after week.
5. Wren and I have a "thermometer" printed off that we hung in a frame that we can write on with glass markers. We put our monthly Blush goal at the top of the thermometer and every few days we color it in and watch it rise as we get closer to our goal. VERY helpful to have a visual of where we are each month. We also break it down every day to what we need to make to reach our monthly goal and adjust day by day.
6. Extra pro-tip I'll throw in there for you. Have fun. If it's not fun and bringing joy into your life, why are you doing it? You get one life, make it work for you each and every day, not the other way around! 
7. Extra extra pro-tip ~ I'm not going to say you need to journal on a daily basis, but I can tell you it's been very insightful to read through what I've written in the last year. Even though I go through spurts with journaling, it is so revealing and I'm glad I jot down thoughts and notes. I can see how far we've come with Blush, what I haven't followed through on, dreams I've had that I would've never remembered, the roller coaster of marriage and kids and marketing ideas that may be just the right thing right now. The year goes fast, but when you look back on everything that's happened in throughout the year, wow! It seems like slow motion.

I hope you are ready to take your life seriously and make it what you want. Just remember, write down the goal and ask yourself frequently, is this choice leading me closer or further from my end goal? Sticking by the answer shows maturity, self-awareness, honesty, and having trust in yourself. 

I can't wait to get my 2019 Vision Board going! I am ready to hit this New Year running!

~ Vanessa