I’m not exactly sure how I got started choosing a word of the year. I know that I was highly skeptical at first, but I’ve found it pleasant and helpful in guiding me to self-orient each day to whatever I’ve chosen as that reminder. I’ll do a basic chronology of the words I’ve chosen so far and then I’ll mention what just happened that’s a first.
As you can see below, I kinda fumbled the first year by hyphenating, but my goal with “positive-health” was intentionally changing my focus. I’d been dealing with so many providers and tests to try to figure out migraines and thinking about it was taking more of my mental focus than was actually helpful. I wanted to make sure that I focused on addressing that issue only when appropriate and nurtured appreciation for all aspects of positive-health the rest of the time. Next, I noticed that when redirecting myself I often had a bit of a demanding or anxious tone; I wanted to foster “gentleness”. I got pretty good at that but still felt kinda up-and-down in that inner-space, so I went for “serenity”. After that, I was looking for a more energized baseline and “joy” was a perfect match. Then I noticed that I had a little ambivalence in self-talk because I had been unkind to myself by setting unfair standards in the past; so I worked on “kindness” from the point of view of consistency, kindness that I could trust. I was feeling super successful with that and chose “sparkle” next because that feeling of playfulness from a place of strength was what I felt would be the most nurturing. And, this year, I chose “comfort”. I would have preferred a triple hyphen, comfort-in-the-now, because that was the concept I was going for, but I couldn’t find a single word that I liked better. I’ve been working on really enjoying the moment when positive or just acknowledging if not so fun… comfort in not projecting catastrophes forward or worrying about duplicating past mistakes… cultivating that process of presence and then choosing next actions.
2015
Positive-health
Make sure my focus is on the positive, that I'm pursing the good, fun, happy parts of health (not only focusing on my challenges).
2016
Gentleness
2017
Serenity
Perfecting that ability to avoid internal ruffles when faced with challenging child, friend, current events.
2018
Joy
That inner smile from a place of strength, resilliance, and peace.
2019
Kindness
Consistent self-kindness, so I can trust myself to never be so self-cruel again
2020
Sparkle
2021
Comfort
I want to foster of feeling of comfort in the now… not that I don’t take actions and improve, but that I can be comfortable resting in the moment that is with a gentle smile, sparkle, and gratitude.
In addition to reminding myself briefly of this word each day as part of my morning routine (less than two minutes), I get a MyIntent charm. I love browsing this necklaces as it has so much meaning for me.
So… what’s the something new?
For the first time ever, I’m changing my word before the end of the year. From the beginning of this year, I had a bit of unease with “comfort” missing the aspect of the challenge I felt… the connotation of “lazy"! I’m doing a course on developing better back health and one of the quick exercises was taking the time to look at your self-image and note if there were any aspects that get in your way. Rapidly I noticed that I tell myself, “I’m not a strong person.” Hmmm, it didn’t take long for me to notice that I was making that a self-fulling prophecy! Not only do I struggle with motivating myself in strength training, that limiting belief would also sometimes sneak into other areas. It’s easy for me to challenge if I notice and I was rapidly clear that that was a more productive place to focus the last season of this year. So… I’ll have an extra charm for 2021 that says “strength”. Each day, I will re-point myself to nurturing that self-image… I can already feel the excitement!