The last few years at the beginning of the year I've chosen a "word of the year", a special focus to help me guide my mindset throughout the year. I had seen other bloggers do this, was inspired and felt it was a good thing to do. I've had words like jävlaranamma, calm, courage, and more.
Usually I've had a nagging feeling about what I wanted to focus on but this year, not so much. Nothing was shouting at me, and I just wanted to focus on the good things in life and things I can control. I have plenty of goals and intentions, but a special word? I'm not sure about that this time.
Last year I chose the word courage. The purpose was to come out of my bubble of self-doubt, show up despite imperfection in various contexts and challenge my fears, especially those related to poor self-esteem, fear of failure and worries about how I'm perceived by others. Yes, I still struggle with those things at 51 - and yes, I'm too old for that shit. But I'm aware, I'm working on it, I know I'll never be "finished", it will remain a work in progress and that's ok.
I've always been so serious about these things and wanted to focus on improving something about myself and my life. Now I'm getting tired of strategising and analysing everything, and I just want to keep up what I'm doing, go with the flow and enjoy life.
I did have a concept of the year in mind a few weeks ago, something around finding balance, mindfulness, presence, embracing the good, but that still seemed so serious and analytical. Then I read Debbie's blog post, and was inspired by her again.
I had the word "joy" as my word of the year a few years ago, but that became one of the hardest years of my life. So let's reclaim it - but in a more lighthearted way. After some hard years, what I need now is learning to relax, stop taking myself so seriously, enjoy life again and have more fun. And I don't want to be all analytical about it in a carpe diem, social media-esque showing off way. I just want to enjoy life more, because in reality I do a lot of enjoyable things.
So I guess I got myself a word of the year after all. Call it fun, joy, enjoyment, craic, whatever floats your boat.
This choice of word of the year doesn't mean dropping all the obligations, routines and things I have to do for work or health or other important reasons. It's simply a mindset for making the most of life despite the imperfection (both my own and the world we live in). I don't want to grow old and realise I was miserable doing things I should have enjoyed just because I sought approval or perfection.
I guess this has an element of mindfulness and presence in it. To truly enjoy something, you need to be present in the moment, not overthinking whatever it is you're doing.
General, very hands-on, goals this year
Music. I've talked about playing more music for several years now but I've never set up a proper routine for it. Now I have a very solid reason for upping my game with music practice - there is a mid-month regular bluegrass jam session in Cork. And another one further away at the end of the month. And with the concertina... the Tuesday session is a good enough reason, and there is an online session too.
This year I won't promise myself anything big such as finally learning to play Black mountain rag (although I hope to work on it) but I'll get back to fiddle tunes I used to play on the guitar, learn them again and better, learn new songs and practise more. And I'll get back on Artistworks.
In the gym. I don't know if I'll get back to squatting my bodyweight again this year, but who knows. My main goal is to have no niggles or injuries, and be able to keep lifting and progressing without disturbances.
Writing. Why do I have such trouble writing? I need to fix this. My number one plan is to have a plan (posting schedule), not overthink it and just write.
The garden. My garden looks like shit. I used to love gardening but then in 2023 I had my stress fracture and got so behind with everything and was never able to catch up again, especially because the year after when pulling heavy weeds I got a muscle strain in my left arm. Last year I had something in my right arm. After this, gardening is mostly stressful. I want to get back to loving it again and giving my garden more TLC!
That's all.
Sometimes it's good to make it simple.
Comments
I gave up on picking a word of the year because I never thought of it past January.
Joy is a good outlook to hold on to. I usually am a glass half-full person, but I try not to be pollyanna-ish. Sometimes things do suck, but you can still find joy in slogging through the muck together.
I might do the same next year. Having a word has helped me in previous years but nowadays I tend to have more of a concept or set of goals for the new year rather than one focus, and this year my concept was all about going with the flow and "it's about time I just enjoy life". With the word joy, as I see it it's not about being happy about everything but to make the most of the situation in front of me even if it sucks, and focus on the good things that still (usually) exist.
(Apologies for the duplicate response. My husband was moving everything to a new server while I was replying so my comment disappeared the first time)
Ah, I can relate, Susanne! Wanting to improve ourselves all the time is fine, but it can quietly turn into a trap where nothing is ever enough and everything becomes a project. At some point you just want to live, not constantly fix yourself.
Reclaiming JOY without turning it into another performance metric is the key point here. Also, the line about being too old for that shit made me laugh because yes! Exactly!
Music, gym, writing and the garden will provide you with a nice balance. Oh, and Elsa of course. Look at those little paws!! She is the sweetest!
The "everything becomes a project". And "at some point you just want to live, not constantly fix yourself." Exactly this!!!! It's time for me to move on.
And yes, Elsa! That mischievous, wonderfully cute little thing!
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