This is my second time going through the process and picking one word to guide my year. Last year I picked joy for 2020 and it served me well. Honestly, I didn’t think I would stick with it for the whole year. I thought it would be something I thought about in the first quarter and then it dwindled off, but it was something I thought about all year long. And it turns out I absolutely love having a word to come back to as a touch point throughout the year.
How do you do it? Is it hard to pick a word for the year?
If you haven’t heard of this, check out One Word That Will Change Your Life. It took me about 2 hours to read the book and pick my word. It’s a quick, impactful read.
At first, it felt like a big burden for one word to carry for 365 days. But, much like last year, when I came across my word, I just knew it was the right one. And I knew it could carry the weight and be my guide for the year.
My best advice when picking your word of the year: 1. trust your gut and 2. don’t overthink it — when you know, you know.
This year I’m breaking the rules
As I thought about this over the last couple of weeks I reallyyyyy had to trust my gut when I found “the one” because my word of the year is breaking the very definition of a “word of the year”. It’s two words.
STOP EVERYTHING.
I know. Normally this would stop me from using it because I am a rule follower. (Sometimes I really hate that about myself, but hey, those are thoughts for another day.) I did take some time to try to find one word that captured the same feeling, but I nothing hit me quite the same way. And since this is my word of the year, and it’s meant to guide me and only me, I’m making the rules.
My 2021 word of the year
My words of the year are…(drumroll)…
keep going
Here are all of the sub-bullets that fit under keep going and why it means something to me:
- Keep going means, that I will have confidence in myself and in my decisions.
- Keep going means done is better than perfect.
- Keep going means I will do what is right for me and my family and think less about what others think.
- Keep going means I will keep writing my blog, I will keep posting on Instagram, I will keep pursing this dream that I too often doubt.
- Keep going means that I will double down on the things I improved on in 2020 — say no (so I can say yes to the most important things), be 100% present with family when it’s family time, give myself grace and allow myself time to process, and let go of the little things (like dishes in the sink).
Let’s do this 2021
I know 2020 was a lot. It was heavy for so many people. And unfortunately, the end of 2020 doesn’t mean everything that has challenged us this year will magically disappear, it just means that new challenges await us in 2021, maybe harder, maybe not, we won’t really know until we get there. I am going to keep going regardless of what’s ahead. I hope you’ll join me! Cheers to 2021.