one little word report #1: relationships

My year of nourish is going pretty well. I'm loving it, actually. I don't know what it is about choosing a word, but I feel like it really gets my head in the right place when I have a sort of overarching goal for the year. It is exciting and motivating. This is what works for me. :)

If you remember, when I introduced my 2014 word of the year I laid out a handful of mini-goals to nourish different areas of my life (relationships, health/body, family, intellect, and peace of mind). So now I'm going to return and report, make some changes, and add some new goals in the areas that are progressing.

Today, lets talk about challenging my fear of phone calls. :)

Relationships
Goal: Call someone (who is not my mom or someone I pay bills to) once a week.

How it went: Good! I don't know where my terror of the telephone comes from--maybe politeness training as a child??--but I have this just overwhelming discomfort with making a phone call. I just worry so much about being intrusive/interrupting that I can hardly bear to dial the number.

Over the past few weeks, I have made an effort to make some phone calls. Sometimes I've made a social call--maybe 20 minutes of just catching up while I clean & the kids are in quiet time/nap--and sometimes I just choose to call when a text or email would have sufficed, like when someone leaves me a voicemail with a quick question.

What surprised me the most was how much people enjoyed being called! Because I am not a phone person, it didn't occur to me what it would mean to someone to be singled out and called. It was actually a really sweet experience, and I've been able to reconnect on a deeper-than-blogging level with some dear friends. And, so you have my proof, here is a list of people I called (either to chat or to answer a question) over the past few weeks...

Who I called:
Susan, Sophia, Melanie, Amanda, Madeline, and Robyn.
(I also called Suzi, and left a voicemail when she didn't answer. Partial credit.)

NEW GOAL: I'm going to continue my phone goal, because that is a pretty big one for me. And my new goal is pretty simple: I just want to visit my friends. That's all. Just more face time, maybe even with some people I've always meant to get together with but never gotten it to work.

And my bonus? I'd also like to send some care packages. Because mail is just so fun to get, right? I love to imagine my dear ones receiving lovely things in the mail.