My Word of the Year – Rachel Coffey

We’re so excited to introduce the PowerSheets Community to Rachel Coffey of Rachel Coffey Photography. Read Rachel’s “My Word of the Year” interview below and be inspired by how she’s implementing CULTIVATE into her life this year!

Tell us who you are and what fires you up:

Hello from the Southern side (sung to you in my very best Southern-Adele accent). I’m Rachel Coffey, owner and lead photographer of Rachel Coffey Photography, based in sweet home Alabama. A few of the many things that fire me up are:

• Jesus time
• Spontaneous day dates with my Mister
• A good book
• Worship music
• A clean space
• Witnessing a dream become a reality
• Game night with the family
• Dance breaks
• Coffee in the morning
• Cooking my mom’s recipes
• Prayer
• Good conversations with friends
• Giving gifts
• Encouraging others
• A good walk
• Cozy slippers

What do you value the most?
My covenant with Jesus, time well spent with my hubs (Lucas), my family, my church family, meaningful relationships, my community.

If you could envision your most fulfilling year yet, what would it look like?
In my most fulfilling year, I am trusting in the Lord completely¦with everything. My marriage is full of selflessness and grace. Lucas and I are generous without measure. Our children feel so much love from their parents and the people around them. Rachel Coffey Photography is a legacy driven and understands the end result. I have a team that helps me make things happen and they value the vision and own it, as well.

Every day I’m living in gratefulness knowing that this all belongs to Him. My time is intentional so I have plenty of it to spend on what matters. I spend many afternoons hanging out with my mom, and tending to our family garden. I have time to focus on The Orchard ladies (a local creativity community group). I’m teaching our children about life through experiences and allowing them to be as creative as their little heart desires. I’m a good wife, mom, daughter and friend.

What is your word for this year? 
Cultivate: Building on the current foundation I have.

How have you implemented CULTIVATE into your life so far this year?
Cultivate Worship - Starting my days off with worship and thanking Him before asking Him.

Cultivate our Marriage - We’ve done really well at monthly planning for our family budget and our family calendar for a while now, but in October of last year we decided to take our planning to another level and really focus on our marriage; the vision we have for our future, as a team. We took a few days off to disconnect and have a vision retreat for us!

We went with the promise that we could talk through anything knowing that some of these thoughts might stir up “all the feelings but also knowing we wouldn’t leave until we had clear, maintainable expectations from each other for the next 12 months. We talked through everything from how we can serve each other better through communication, intimacy, and day-to-day needs, to how we can pray for each other well, see our parents more often, and what kind of values we want to teach our future children!

It was enlightening! It was so helpful to put meaning and clarification to some of the thoughts or ideas we each have for our life together. Now we’re moving forward with clear expectations for what our marriage looks like this year and clarity in how we can communicate better, as a couple.

Cultivate Meaningful Friendships -This means we do life together, with friends! We make it a priority to have supper club, vacations, and coffee dates with our core people on the reg, because it’s important to us. We used our PowerSheets to make New York City at Thanksgiving happen last year, by setting goals to meet first, monthly, than weekly, so we could plan some exciting things to do on the trip. This was the most extensive planning I’d ever done for a trip and I’m so glad we did! We have some really great memories from it and all agree it was one, if not the best, trip we’ve ever been on!

Cultivate My Business - Last year was all about re-branding Rachel Coffey Photography. This year I’ve been cultivating my brand by focusing on the why I do what I do – which I think is just important as the how. I’m re-focused and excited to start branching out with some things. For instance, earlier this year, I decided to participate in a local bridal show. My PowerSheets had a huge role in helping me complete all the little details that make up a vendor booth. Last year I started with monthly goals such as ordering prints, building the booth, collecting props, etc. By doing this, 95% of the booth and details were done by November, which allowed me to take December off for the holiday. I only had a few weekly goals to finish up when it came time for the show in January. This was hard work, but it was easy and stress-free because we planned so well.

What are you saying yes to this year?
I’m saying yes to the idea of starting a family, I’m saying yes to developing and encouraging the new relationships in my life, yes to being content where He has me, yes to continuing to cultivate The Orchard, yes to breaking busy, yes to writing more, and yes to being bold!

And, what are you saying no to this year?
I’m saying no to more stuff, to being busy, to not speaking up, to not being bold, to not being a risk-taker!

Where do you want to be when you’re 80?
I’m celebrating my 80th birthday at our family lake house with my husband by my side and my best friend cutting the cake (she’s younger than me so she can handle it). There are lovely photos in cute little gold frames documenting all the beautiful moments we’ve shared leading up to this day. Little rows of flowers that my daughter and I picked together from our family garden are placed on each table. I’m wearing some super stylish black pants, my most comfy shoes, a cute blue-jean button down, and a white bun on top of my head¦ I must be a hip great-grandma to say the least. I’m surrounded by my family, my nieces and nephews, my cousins, my children, my great-grandchildren, and friends. So much laughter is around me I can’t help but soak it all in and giggle myself! As my family and friends sing happy birthday to me I feel so incredibly grateful to be here, experiencing this moment with them. I’m content. My life feels so full. For me, this is heaven on Earth.

Thank you so much, Rachel! We’re cheering you on as you chase CULTIVATE this year!

Follow Rachel at:

www.rachelcoffeyphoto.com @thecoffeygirl