one little word 2016 | diy canvas.

The first year I did one little word, I made two canvases (this one and this one) to represent my word and keep it in the forefront of my mind by putting them somewhere I'd see them every day. I continued that tradition last year and made a canvas using my word's definition, so this year making another one was a no-brainer. Like the previous two years, I kept it simple, though this time I combined both methods used in the others — a little bit of black and white (and pink) paint and a gold paint marker (because, again, when am I not breaking that thing out? Exhibit A and B). I sloppily applied the paint, let it dry, then outlined my word, "contentment," in skinny gold capitals.I like making these simple canvases for this purpose because they keep the spotlight on the word itself without being in my face. The 2014 and 2015 canvases are a part of a gallery wall in my room (which I keep meaning to take photos of), but I put this one over my desk so it kind of has it's own little spot for the year. I'm hoping that seeing it every day will really help me work on myself this to truly be a more content person in twenty sixteen.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One Little Word is a workshop run by Ali Edwards in which participants choose one word to focus on for an entire year. Read about Ali's OLW here, and see all of my related posts for OLW 2014 here, 2015 here, and 2016 here.

contentment.

For the last two years I've chosen a word to take with me in everything I do throughout the year. In 2014, it was "grow," and it couldn't have been a more perfect word for me that year. Last year I chose "adapt," because after all the seeds I planted in 2014, I needed to work through it all and fit the pieces of the puzzle together. Both years I made massive changes to my life and both years I feel like my word served me. When I started to think about what word I wanted to look to in 2016, I thought about the past few months and how even though I have an amazing life — and am generally a happy individual — I tend to focus a bit too much on the things I think are missing from my life. I drag some of that negativity into parts of me that are already awesome, and it becomes kind of toxic. That's how choosing the word "contentment" came about.This year my goal is to be content. To sit and enjoy the happy little life that I've built for myself, and let the things that are missing come to me in time. I want to be happy just because I can be, I want to appreciate the things that I have to the fullest extent, rather than halfway because I'm searching for something else. If I can get myself to this state, I just know that everything else will fall into place — and better yet, if it doesn't, I'll still find a way to be okay with that.I've realized that I can make any situation awful with my attitude. All it takes is a bad mood to make a day terrible. I'm going to work on making the opposite even more true. I choose to be happy this year, no matter what. Bring it on, twenty sixteen.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One Little Word is a workshop run by Ali Edwards in which participants choose one word to focus on for an entire year. Read about Ali's OLW here, and see all of my related posts for OLW 2014 here, 2015 here, and 2016 here.