Word of the Year
Reflections on walking with a word that guides you through the year and why it was so important this year in particular.
Are you a word of the year person?
I don’t remember when I first started choosing a word of the year - a guiding quality or intention of support - but it’s a practice I enjoy. This year felt like a year I wanted to remember and work with the energy of a word more closely.
When I consider a word of the year (which, by the way, you can choose at any time - it doesn’t have to be tied to the calendar year), I was thinking of the important transitions that are happening this year for our family - my daughter is graduating from high school and leaving for college. She will take her first steps into living independently, and my husband and I will reorient our day-to-day lives to being “just us” most of the time.
I’m breathing; are you breathing??
I wanted a word that captured the quality I wish to embody.
How do I want to show up for my daughter? How do I want to be in relationship to the changing nature of my marriage? What about the women I work with and support? How do I want to show up for myself? For life - for the expected and the unexpected?
I want to show up, heart open, for every moment.
Once I knew how I wanted to show up, the word chose me. I kept seeing quotes with the word, but it was this quote from Simone Weil that drew me back over and over.
“Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer.”
Honestly, I noticed myself desperately seeking the “new thing” - what will I spend all of my extra time on once my daughter is gone? I wanted to leap over the grief and that untethered feeling I can already feel. But I know that trying to find solid ground beyond the grief before it even arrives means I will miss the celebration, the sweetness, the love, and the joy.
I don’t want to miss a single moment.
So my word for this year is ATTENTION. And, in my desire to keep it alive, I am participating in Ali Edwards One Little Word - which is a delicious treat every month. This month, the One Little Word team invited everyone to make a manifesto - the phrases that remind us of our word and who we want to be living our word. Here’s mine:
I want to pay attention to what is essential: my daughter, my family, my internal landscape, my well-being, my connections, and yes, yes, yes the women I circle with and support through coaching. This intention of attention means leaving more space for listening to and being in the fullness of life. Pouring my love into the people, places, and events in my most intimate circles.
Now it’s your turn - tell me everything.
Do you have a word of the year? How is it guiding you, and how do you keep your word alive throughout the year? Let’s discuss in the comments.
Word of the Year
My word this year is a combo: Worth-Value-Wealth. They are extensions of each other and something about the W V W made it easy hold. I chose that theme because it’s been feeling like the tone of collective and personal evolution. Maybe in a way it chose me? 🤔
My word is Focus - (similar to yours) I don’t want to miss a thing! As I’m getting older, my life is getting shorter (as is true for all of us) and I want to RELISH every bit, every change, every nuance, whether to my body, my people, my wonderful friends, this beautiful planet, and most of all my amazing family (including the new addition of kitties!) and how I spend my time with all of these gifts of life and living fully. Soaking it all in.