I have never really been a resolution person. For me, it just feels like it sets me up for disappointment if I don't meet a bunch of arbitrary expectations of what I am supposed to have done in the course of a year. There are so many other factors that can go into accomplishing different things and if the universe just doesn't have it in the cards, then no matter how bad you want it to happen, it just won't.
Last year I decided to try doing a word of the year. It felt like it would be easy enough; it would set the tone of the year and be something to infuse into so many different aspects of my life, but it wouldn't be specific goals.
I chose the word 'Joy'.
Considering what a year 2020 turned out to be, it ended up being a great word to have in my life. There were so many times when all of the wild things were happening last year that I really reframed a lot of how I look at joy, and how it is possible to have it in your life when the world around you seems to be crumbling. I found that it didn't have to be some sort of toxic positivity troupe. It could be something as simple as the fact that I got out of bed that day. That I was able to enjoy a hot cup of coffee. That I got a hug from my husband at just the right time. That my kids did something particularly funny. I was able to find joy in small moments without worrying about if they were big enough, grand enough.
I thought long and hard about what I wanted my word to be for 2021 and it didn't really come to me until the last couple days of the year. I ultimately decided on 'Persevere'. I am cautiously hopeful that we will start rising from some of the chaos of 2020, and I want to be able to keep moving and growing. I want to persevere though the moments when I feel like I can't, and I want to persevere through the moments where I feel like I am winning the fight.
No matter what tangible things I accomplish this year, that is my only real goal.
To just keep going.
