I’ve really struggled to pick my ‘word’ for this year. It felt like it should be something profound and big, you know, to combat the last 18months, but the words that mostly came to mind were things like ‘hibernate’ and ‘no’……not the most positive way to start a year, hu!
If you don’t know what I am talking about, I have got into the habit of picking a word to be accountable to over the last few years – some years they have been a big fat bust – like 2016’s ‘healthy’ – which I picked at the beginning of the year, not knowing that 6 months into the year I’d be discovering I had cancer. The other years, like last year’s ‘Learn’ faired better – I learnt a lot last year – things I signed up to learn and things about myself that I maybe shouldn’t have had to have found out but, lessons none the less.
This ritual of choosing a word has been with me for some time, and usually I have picked my word and long in advance of the new year, but this year, as everyone else was out there giving up booze and making me mute mentions of ‘#veganuary’, I was still struggling to decide. I had two words but neither of them felt right. They felt a bit forced, and like the might not fit many areas of my life.
But then I saw a post from a friend, Emma, who had chosen a word that just made so much sense to me that it was like a light bulb went on, and now I am shamelessly stealing her word, and the wonderful quote she posted along side it……. I know. I’m probably going to One Little Word purgatory but, does this face look bothered?
So, without further ado, my word that I shall be accountable to in 2018 is Balance.
Balance is key. In everything you do. Dance all night long and practice yoga the next day. Drink wine but don’t forget your green juice. Eat chocolate when your heart wants it and kale salad when your body needs it. Wear high heels on Saturday and walk barefoot on Sunday. Go shopping at the mall and then sit down and meditate in your bedroom. Live high and low. Move and stay still. Embrace all sides of who you are and live your authentic truth! Be brave and bold and spontaneous and loud and let that complement your abilities to find silence and patience and modesty and peace. Aim for balance. Make your own rules and don’t let anybody tell you how to live according to theirs.
You have no idea how much a feel like I ricochet from one side of life to the other……one week it’s all salads and healthy eating, the next, ice cream and carbs. One week I’m walking for hours and Yoga-ing, the next I’m slumped on the sofa watching Netflix. One week I have my work life balance sorted, the next it’s out of control. Balance is exactly what I need in my life right now.
Are you a ‘one little word’er? If so, what word have you picked yourself (or pinched from someone else?)