I choose Intention as my word of the year (blog link here) to focus on Living my Life with Intention. One of the primary focuses in my Retirement Transition approach was to “create a life by design, not by default”. Living my Life with Intention right now means bringing that life design back into focus and making conscious choices on what I’m doing with each day. I relooked at my Retirement Lifestyle Vision statement and it still holds true for who I want to be and how I want to live:
Active Body, Connected Heart, Contemplative Mind, Creative Spirit
And so my seasonal (winter – Jan-Feb-Mar) plan went back to thinking along those lines. Not just to-do lists, but intentional living I also created a 2026 Possibilities List to spark rebuilding my life to live (again) this vision.
I came back to Putting Positivity Psychology into Practice as well; I studied this area a number of years ago and crafted Pat’s Positivity Practices. (link here to one post about that). Many of these practices are part of my daily habits or are tools I use regularly since many of the practices fit into my Retirement Lifestyle Vision. But some need to be boosted back into shape post hurricane recovery.
- Savor the Little Things in Life – Invest in Experiences
- Morning Journal & Daily Gratitude
- Intentional Connections
- Connect to Nature
- Be Active – Daily Movement – Functional Fitness
- Embrace Self-Empowering Beliefs (release self-limiting ones) – Shift Negative Self-talk to Positive; Shift Compare & Despair to Observe & Admire; Understand your Triggers; Use your Glimmers
- Appreciate Time Abundance – Just Be
- Adequate Sleep & Manage Body Maintenance
- Encourage your Love of Learning
- Get Crafty; focus on Satisfaction of Engagement (versus need for mastery)
Exploring more about Living my Life with Intention led me to an interesting article about living an intentional life (see link here for article). I found it interesting how the author talked about other aspects of intentional living:
- Becoming consciously aware of how you are reacting to situations around you (my triggers!). For me, this includes to stop hearing expectations or criticisms or rejections that are not there.
- Focusing on what is in your circle of control versus what is outside of it. I cannot control most of the building recovery timeline and I need to accept that!
- Letting go of the shoulds and embracing the I want to, I choose to, and I will. I know I want to have more fun, play more, laugh more. (blog link here), so that stimulated ideas on my 2026 Possibilities list.
Some other aspects of Live Life with Intention include:
- Being intentional with what and who I allow into my space. A challenging one for me is to set these types of boundaries.
- Being intentional on my own personal growth – continuing to release my friendship fantasies and to become more aware of the inner voice that (still) expounds self-liming beliefs. I had done significant growth on this area back when my WOTY was Release, but this past year’s trauma has shown me that more work is needed.
And so, I am crafting some plans, building in some daily affirmations, and yes, continuing some of my tracking lists to help with my WOTY. Maybe overkill for some, but I need to get back to fully living!
What does Live Life with Intention mean to you?
P.S. An update on the house rebuild (and yes, it is out of my control). We had a serious incident this past week which apparently was the result of low-quality cement block – multiple concrete columns blew out and collapsed. And so, another re-loop, another delay. Silver lining was at least it was discovered early in the build and resolved, and no-one was seriously injured. Columns are rebuilt and first level walls are now done.
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Thanks for sharing this, Pat. It reminds me to be more intentional in my own life. Right now what resonates most is to let go of “shoulds” and transition to “I choose” and “I will.”
Also, that is so scary about the columns collapsing. As you said, I’m so glad no one was hurt and that the issue was discovered early on. Good luck with the rest of the build!
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I’ve actually gotten much better on hearing the should and challenging it – I’ve aso learned to quickly say “I could do it”, which makes it an option, and then choose to if I want, or choose not to if it doesn’t fit. So often, other people will say “you should” or I’ll say “I should”. I’ve actually said, “Stop should-ing on me” to someone!
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Wow Pat that last paragraph described what could’ve been a serious disaster – SO HAPPY it was averted and addressed before the project was further along!!
I’ve also been evaluating how I want to live my life moving into 2026. I’ve sidelined my wants & desires in favor of others – whether they realize it or not – many times I’ve done it purely on what *I think* they want – Ugh!! That has to stop! I’ve decided to put my Happiness first at least some of the time and not stop myself based on faulty thinking. Something as simple as not going into my sewing room unless I can spend HOURS in there…why? I don’t know!…so for the last two nights I’ve gone in for about 30 minutes to make small progress on a project and it actually made me smile!!
Here’s to a Happy 2026!
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Yeah to those little jolts of joy! I understand the need to get back into crafting/creativity because the act does make me smile as well. And totally understand “hearing” expectations – that’s how I’ve come to term it when “I think I know” what someone wants. Hearing things that are not there! And a watch-out (since it hits me hard when I focus on me) – guilt for doing things for myself, for spending time on myself, for putting myself first. I keep telling myself, I’ve earned the right to put myself first, spending time on myself is actually a healthy thing to do, and who else but me is gonna do it (take care of me). Looking forward to hearing some of the other things that are bringing a smile to your face – they will inspire us all!
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Glad to see the house going up—sorry to hear about the concrete glitch, though. Sounds like you’ve put a lot of thought into planning how to make this coming year work out better for you and to make the most of your time.
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Eilene, I feel like I lost a year. Kinda like the pandemic… what happened and where did the year go? So I need to get back to living and not wait for us to be back home, which is hard to even write. I know we will get there eventually, but all the delays (problem, resolution) are disheartening. And I also know there will be other problem/resolution delays. And unfortunately, there will be waiting on crews as many construction teams are smaller these days. So things take longer – there’s a big difference if your mason or framing or roofing team is 8 or 4 people!
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Pat, that is disconcerting about the concrete. Not something I would have thought could be a problem. At least it’s repaired, and things are moving forward again. I like your plan for intentional living, and I love your quote, “create a life by design, not by default.” It’s like the difference between living and existing.
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Suzanne, I did design for most of my career and used that quote often with my design teams. Because, there is always a default mode when you’re doing design work, and often it’s not what you want. And I like how you noted: default in life – it’s simple existing. I’m not going to just “exist” this upcoming year!
Concrete block issue – as I noted to others, this was something neither my mason (10 years experience) nor my GC (20 years experience) had ever encountered! But now, we have heard of 2 other houses with the same issue. So the current theory is the concrete block makers are cranking the blocks out so fast (so much under construction), that quality is suffering. In my house, they did a couple of things on the “fix the problem” stage so that if they missed a lower quality block (they did search out to find and replace them), there would be another structural element to offset it. So, the fix was just time and money. And I’m guessing, not the last case of problem, resolution, time, and money.
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WOW. Wonder how you confirm the current concrete is good? Looks like something is “growing”. How exciting. Hopefully more steps forward than backward as the building continues.
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Talking to the GC and mason, this was very unusual… like never before for either of them. And both of them have been in the business here for years (10 for the mason, 20 for my GC). But we’ve since heard of 2 other houses that had same issue. Most folks are now believing it’s that they (cement block makers) are cranking out so much because there is so much building going on. In my neighborhood alone, there are over 14 houses currently under construction, and everyone is using concrete blocks.
That said, the issue was resolved – just time and money. And frustration. Next step is framing the second floor. I guess all my blog readers are going to learn “how to build a house on the Florida coast” and all the issues that ensue.
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Ahh, see the societal benefit you are providing!! Love reading about it.
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Hi Pat – that house just likes to test your patience doesn’t it? Despite that, it’s progressing quickly now and it must be nice to see the walls up and that things are finally moving forward.
Interesting what you said about who you allow into your space and the concept of friendships. My post today is on an encounter with my work colleague who did my head in all those years ago – and how quickly I fell back into old habits (and the triggers!!) We live and we learn, and hopefully we get better at not repeating those old ways – but there’s always steps backward here and there along the path (like those pillars of yours!) x
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Leanne, I did read your trigger encounter and could relate! It’s a bit scary to me how triggers are really tipping me over an edge. I think part of it for me is I’m still in recovery mode. But I had a doozy of a trigger this week; what’s interesting is I even recognized the trigger as it was happening! I still couldn’t stop the body reaction (cortisol flare-up I’m thinking). So my next learning step forward is to teach myself some in-the-moment tools. Box-breathing is one that is easy and if I had just done it, in that moment – really done it and not just one series and a “this isn’t working” mind! (should-a, but in this case — learning) I need to commit to using the tools.
And, the columns of the house are all fixed. Next step probably next week – deliveries expected this week – next round of materials (wood for second floor framing and hopefully all good quality).
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