what’s your word

Happy New Year! Welcome 2019!

Each year for nearly 10 years now I’ve tried to purge the holiday hubbub by paring down my New Year’s thinking, skipping resolutions, and chosing a word to use as a focal point for the New Year.

One year my word was Finish.

Believe it or not, during that year I didn’t start a single new project, but instead finished all the ones that were half done—the rag quilt for my son made from his flannel receiving blankets that had never gotten stitched together, the quilt flimsy in the cedar chest I’d “been meaning to get to,” and a host of other things.

It was a phenomenal year with lots of boxes checked off.

This past year my chosen word was Focus with a goal of focusing my attention on just a few important things. I’d been hemming and hawing around with my This Day’s Joy and Finding This Day’s Joy books, getting distracted and not focusing on the work I needed to do with them.

With the word Focus to guide my days, I was able to continually ask myself, “what are you focused on?” or “is this the best place to put your attention?” The word Focus helped me keep the main thing the main thing.

For the past few weeks I’ve been auditioning words for this new year.

When I say “audition” I mean trying a word on for size to see if it fits. It’s like asking that word or idea to walk out in center stage and say a few words so I can see how I react.

Does that word / idea resonate with me?

Sometimes I ask myself, “what might June or July look like if I used this word as a lodestone for the year?

It’s funny, but after thinking about several different words or ideas, one will inevitably jump out as The Word.

Currently in first place for me is the word Value.

As in what do I value? And how do I value things? What are the values I hold dear? Could someone looking at my actions discern my values simply through what I do? It’s a word that applies to music and art as well.

Usually my word is both a noun and a verb — and Value fills the bill there as well. And because it can function as both noun and verb in a sentence, it gives me something to do, an action to target, and something concrete to go after.

So what about you?

Anyone else out there do a word for the year? Do you have a 2019 word yet? If so what it is, and how did you decide it was as “the one.”

I’m not much for New Year’s Resolutions. A year is a long time, and really — who knows what October will bring? But I like the idea of thinking ahead or having some sort of game plan for the year. So, instead of a resolution, several years ago I started picking out a New Year’s Word — one single word to direct my thinking for the upcoming 365 days.

The first time I did I, my word was easy. I was over-committed and my life felt way too much like the tail was in charge of the dog. How to stop it? My word for the year was “Simplify,” and it proved helpful. I got into the habit of thinking, “is this something that will simplify my life or complicate it?” If the answer was the latter, then I seriously reconsidered my actions.

I love quilts and applique needlework, and over the years, I’ve inherited finished quilt tops in need to quilting, plus cut out my own blocks and had them in half-finished piles. To make a dent on all these started but unfinished projects, my word during that year was “Finish.” The question I asked myself was “are you starting something new or finishing something old?” It worked! I hand-quilted a five-generation quilt top I’d had in a trunk since my grandmother died. I finished the memory quilt for my son that I made out of flannel receiving blankets we used when he was a baby and backed it with up-cycled blue jeans. Plus there were several other small projects that got done. Finish! It was a good year.

This year I had trouble settling on a word. I did some thinking on paper (a great tip I picked up from Jean Moroney @ Thinking Directions), and had it narrowed down to two: Fortify and Persist. My word is always a verb — something that I can actually DO, and I wanted a word to indicate a desire to shore up current foundations rather than plow new fields. But “persist” seemed to imply a negative (persisting despite adversity), and “fortify” made me think of castle walls and medieval warfare. I opted for “fortify,” then one afternoon a day or two later during my walk, the word “bolster” popped into my head.

Bolster?

Yes, that just might work. Bolster conveys the exact sentiment I want — plus I think it sounds kinda cute. There’s also a added double-meaning to it. As a verb “bolster” is all about fortifying and shoring up, but as a noun, it’s one of those cute tube-shaped pillows (like those in the picture from Pottery Barn) one that increases comfort as you relax. Bolstering up the foundations of my life will (hopefully) bring a sense of comfort during the coming year.

So there you have — this year’s word.

Bolster!

What’s the Good Word?

This Year’s Word