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A few years ago I started a tradition of setting a word for the New Year over resolutions.
Resolutions, for me, started to feel like little failure traps. I’d set these grandiose plans at the first of the year, and if I failed to meet them fully, I would feel less than.
Losing a certain amount of weight, reading a certain number of books, hitting certain milestones in my career…all great aspirations, but most of those things I actually had very little control over. We don’t really know what’s going to hit us over the course of a year.
2020 - case in point.
It felt like any time I did this, I was setting myself up for failure and disappointment. An easy way to spiral down the “I’m not good enough” rabbit hole. To hop on the “I’m failing at life” crazy train.
Not exactly how I want to be feeling two/three months into a new year.
So…my resolution? (*wink*) Word of the year!
For the last few years, I will spend some time, as the year comes to a close, reflecting on all that the previous year was. What I experienced and what I choose to take away from all of it. How I’ve grown, and how I implemented the previous year’s word throughout. (A similar type of reflection to the one I like to do on my birthday each year, but with an even clearer numerical delineation and set of intentions. A scan through all the year’s “seasons,” as the entire world reaches a moment of reset together.)
I’ll take a good look within, and really try to listen to my heart. What is it saying? What is it craving? What can I promise to do in the new year to propel my personal development forward? And how can I continue to strive to be the best version of myself? The person, woman, and child that God calls me to be.
After the reflections, I like to brain dump any and all thoughts going through my mind for the future. Things that are whirling around in my head and just need to be given a voice. These might seem like resolutions…but I see them more as goals, ambitions, and dreams. Things that feel appealing to me at that particular point in time and ones I’d like to add to my life or routine.
BUT these goals, ambitions, dreams are malleable and flexible. They are allowed to breathe and grow and change. Not wallow me into self-pity should I not be able to complete one. They provide me with a great jumping off point for the start of the year, but they very well are able to adapt and morph as the year progresses.
From these thoughts, usually a theme starts to form. A direction my anticipatory heart is dying to take.
The first year I adopted this practice, my word was STRENGTH. I wanted to embody strength in every sense of the word - physically, yes, but also spiritually, mentally, intellectually, relationally, and emotionally. I created a little word picture in my journal with STRENGTH at the center of it, and surrounded it with other words it evoked in me. A rounding out of what I wanted to achieve over the course of a year. Then, I would journal about it. I’d brainstorm what fulfilling that word would look like, how I would go about achieving that vision, and then find some scripture to bolster it even further.
Words I used in the years following included:
*Joy
*Faith
*Action
*Self-Care
*Gratitude
This year? I choose POWER.
For 2021, I wanted something with substance. Something with grit. I’ve entered into this new realm. One of floating, and pursuit.
The normal things I used to cling onto are no longer available. They no longer exist in my here and now. Sure, there is hope of them returning in some capacity in the future…but they will then be new. Re-formed. Re-envisioned.
We can no longer accept or expect the same.
“The old has gone, the new is come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
There was a lot of unknown this year. A bit of flailing, a bit of suspension, a bit of disbelief and uncertainty. But accompanying that was also awareness, presence, ingenuity, thriftiness, and release. By harnessing that energy, I feel myself gaining momentum, and therefore wanted this year’s theme to reflect that.
With all the new I have found and explored over these past twelve months, I needed some type of kicking it into high gear heading forward. And that kick is POWER.
Behind the word POWER, for me, is action, confidence, ability, strength, structure, force, passion, intention, discipline, energy, faith, vigor, discovery, thought, commitment, hope, joy, and triumph.
I want my 2021 to encompass all of those things. Achieving that, to me, would be success. Resolutions resolved. Evolution accomplished. Gratification fulfilled.
As I enter into this new year, I desire to find my new flow. My purpose. My power.
And through small steps and actionable items, I plan on doing just that.
My desired goals help to set a theme for the next chapter…but my theme, my word, my mantra, helps me to actually fulfill those goals.
Are you setting yourself up for success as we turn the page into 2021? Are you allowing yourself to aspire, focus, and take charge? And are you treating yourself with grace and compassion along the way?
I challenge you, if you haven’t already, to take a few moments, minutes, or mornings, reflecting on who you want to be next January 1st. What is it you will have wanted to accomplish? Not only on the surface-level, but deep down in your soul.
Where is your heart leading you this year? What theme or word or mantra can you commit to in order to make that happen?
It is truly amazing how grounding, inspiring, and powerful a word can be.
In my last entry, we talked about the written word, i.e. cards/letters/mail - the meaning it can have and the power it can hold.
These two posts back to back is entirely coincidental. Happenstance.
However, it proves to me even more how right for me this new theme is. This word I've chosen out of the ether to reflect my heart's true desires.
During this time of transition, I’ve heard people talk about their own new year’s traditions. How they choose to reflect, and how they choose to restore, re-establish, and reinvigorate.
Some people choose to meditate, some to journal (like me), some choose to deep clean and organize their lives, and others to vision board for the year ahead. And some choose to write a letter or a prayer to their future selves, to be read upon this year’s completion - an intriguing concept that I admire and applaud.
So…this year, this is my letter to myself. My time capsule. My commemoration.
I am declaring before you that this year will be my year of POWER. In all I do, I will seek to fulfill everything I already know that word to be, and also, everything else I will come to learn about it.
2021: The Year of Power
What will your year be of?
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