Word for the Year

      I have given up making New Year's resolutions a long time ago. I mean, they never really stick anyway. After a week or maybe a few weeks if you're particularly strong willed, those vows made at midnight begin to fade away and old habits come sliding back in like a favorite pair of comfy old shoes. You know the ones, soft and all stretched out, slip them on and go. No one likes to fuss with unlacing, stretching, squeezing your foot in, struggling to pull the back up over your heel...too much hassle. And so it is with resolutions...we tell ourselves, "Maybe next year..."

    I think a more positive way to begin a new year is to write down your goals, set some strong intentions, and wrap it up with a mindful mantra, or a simple Word for the Year. Last year my word for the year was "reclaim". I wanted to reclaim some of what I'd lost in the last few years of my marriage, the stress of separating, during a pandemic, starting a stressful new job in a new state with a new mortgage and a teenager starting college. I wanted to reclaim some peace! I didn't really begin to reclaim much until later in the year, but I had written my word in the front cover of my Daphne's Diary journal and every time I would flip through the pages and see it there, it would remind me of my hope for the year and lift my spirit, spurring my forward--which is my word for this year: Forward.

    The definition of forward:

    1. adj. strongly inclined

    2. adv. onward so as to make progress toward a successful conclusion

    I am so ready to move on, put these dark shadows of the past behind me, and I am most certainly strongly inclined to make progress this year toward a successful conclusion! So 'Forward' is the word I am choosing for 2022.

    How about you, have you chosen a Word for the Year? Need help choosing? Check out Mountain Modern Life for some great tips on finding the right word to see you through the year ahead. Well, let's go--forward!



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