New Year
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
Looking toward the oncoming year can feel like looking toward the ocean; there are things we see that we expect, there are things that aren’t visible that we can assume are there, and then there are those unexpected events that come crashing over us like waves. To not get swept away by the tide, we tend to use this time of year for those old friends - New Year’s Resolutions.
Can you remember resolutions you have made in the past? How successful were you in achieving them?
A trend these days is to choose a word of the year. This method allows you to look at your overall vision, and as things change (as we know they will) you can adapt your specific goals based on your vision.
Suppose I choose as a resolution to go running four days a week, but then an injury occurs which does not allow me to continue. My resolution has been sidetracked. If instead my word of the year was “fitness,” I could focus on other things I could do to stay fit while waiting for the injury to heal.
When I started this blog, my goal was to post weekly. If that alone was my resolution, and I just didn’t feel like writing, where would that put me? If I broke my resolution, what did it matter? I could easily convince myself that resolutions are a silly little exercise that we play at each year and they don’t really mean anything.
But what if I choose “Believe” as my word of the year, and wrapped up in that one word were the following concepts:
• Believe that I am capable of doing this even when I don’t feel like it,
• Believe that I have something to share that can make a difference,
• Believe that I have been created with a purpose and task in my life that only I can fulfill.
If I don’t feel like writing, I can remind myself that even though there are many writers and bloggers in the world with far more skill and many more followers, I have my assigned task. I need to take my writing seriously for the difference it can make in a person’s life within my sphere of influence. If for some reason I was unable to post weekly, having these underlying concepts gives me an on-ramp to get back on track.
• • • • •
Dear readers, I invite you to share your word for this year in the comment section below.
Happy New Year!