My Word of the Year

We are well into the year 2020 friends! Just in case you didn’t realize… like me. How has 2019 already come and gone? It just feels like yesterday when Joel and I bought our first home and moved in but in reality, it’s been a year and a half. A year and a half and we finally just purchased some new furniture to replace the old, mismatched, hand-me-down pieces that were given to us when we first moved in. Hey, when it’s free, the price is right!

Now that Christmas and holidays have come and gone and we are all welcoming a new year into our lives (and some of us, like me, are just trying to remember to write 2020 instead of 2019 on documents), it can be a good time for both reflection and planning of the change in year.

Photo by Danil Aksenov on Unsplash

Okay, I’ll be honest – I’m really not one for new years resolutions – in fact, I kind of call BS on the whole idea of making resolutions. The concept of waiting until the new year to make a change and putting pressure on yourself to maintain it only to ultimately beat yourself up when you make a mistake or don’t commit is not a sustainable way to live your life. What I do believe in is making goals and lifestyle changes and working towards something that is meaningful to you. It could be one thing or ten things. It could be a small goal or a really big goal. As long as it is something you truly believe in, setting goals and thinking about how you want to grow can help guide you towards making more meaningful growth and development in your life.

Something that I came across recently this new year, that I absolutely fell in love with, is the idea of having a “word of the year”. So what do I mean by this? A word of the year is a word that you have chosen that has meaning to you and helps you stay focused on whatever goals you have decided to work towards. It’s like a mantra. A positive word that you keep in the back of your mind that will provide some encouragement, motivation and help you stay focused and grounded.

Choosing a word of the year is in a way a self-care exercise. I love the intention behind picking a meaningful word as it helps pave your way into the new year. To help think of a word, you should both reflect back on previous years and also plan how you want this new year to look. Think about things you want to work towards this year or see improved.

So what is my word of the year?

Intentional. This word has really stuck out to me over the last little while. I really want to focus on being more intentional in various aspects of my life. I want to be intentional with my time – who I’m spending it with and how I’m using it. I want to be intentional with what I’m purchasing – spending my money on things I truly need vs things I just want. I want to be intentional towards my self-development – investing my energy and motivation on things that will allow me to grow as a person and towards my goals.

One of my goals this year is to focus more on developing my blog. I started this blog almost a year ago, and although it’s remained teeny-tiny in its growth, I’ve actually (for the most part) been able to stick with it, creating content as I go, and having an outlet and a way to express myself creatively (which is something I love to do). Now that I know that I can do it (phewf!), being intentional with my blog will help guide me towards growing it and be more consistent.

So how do you pick a word of the year? Think about inspiring words or quotes and see what speaks out to you or makes a connection. Reflect on previous years and what you want to improve in the upcoming year. What will help guide you towards this? Is it take more opportunities as they come your way? Is it being able to have more balance within your life? Whatever the word is, make sure that it makes sense to you, keeps you focused and motivated and connects with you.

Sometimes it can be hard to think of just one word to use throughout a whole year. Sometimes you have to see or hear a word for it to stand out and hold some kind of meaning to you. To help you in selecting a word, I created a list! Hopefully this can help guide you in the right direction!