A new year is upon us! For some people this brings a wave of relief. For others it brings existential worry or pressure to do X, Y, and Z. Maybe you’re feeling a strange combination of all of the above. If you’re feeling bogged down by everyone’s best-of lists or highlight reels of adventures and accomplishments from the previous year, I invite you to turn off the noise and look inward instead. Some years are not filled with outward, Instagram-worthy growth and accomplishments. Some years are filled with invisible growth. No matter what type of year you’ve had, take a moment to take stock of the invisible, but important things that have happened for you this year.
I tend to put a lot of pressure on calendar-based milestones, but right now I feel a more neutral sense of “onward!” as we move into the new year. I don’t make resolutions. They are too weighty with guilt-inducing “should” energy. But I do like to reflect on the prior year and identify some intentions for myself. I set intentions last year, which you can check out in this post.
Another way to frame up intentions is by choosing a word of the year. I have never done a word of the year, but I’ve decided to give it a try for 2024. I considered several words: “cultivate,” “practice,” “trust,” “momentum,” “clarity” … all wonderful words, but none of them felt quite right. Something that causes me a lot of ongoing angst is this idea that there is always something else I should be doing… a different project, a different medium, a different concept, a different angle, a different blah, blah, blah. Seeing all the possibilities of what to do or how to do it can be beneficial, but at certain point continually asking, “what if?” stalls things out. And lately, I’ve been feeling a bit stalled out.
So, my word for 2024 is commit. I want to be “all in” and more fully present in everyday moments, my most important relationships, and the projects I choose. I have waffled on many projects, chipping away, and then abandoning ship, only to come back and remember, “oh yeah, that’s why I liked this project.” It turns out, it’s difficult to enjoy the present if you’re constantly wondering about some alternate path.
Here is the definition of commit that I’d like to focus on in 2024:
“Commit” is a more severe word than I thought I’d choose. Some aspects of the definition are a bit intense and crime-y. What I want to focus on is the deliberate, “all in,” action-oriented nature of the word. Committing is within my control. Clarity… less so. By committing, other words like “cultivate,” “momentum,” and “clarity” will hopefully follow.
Did you choose a word for 2024? If so, I would love to hear about it!
Thanks for reading
Thanks for being here! It truly means the world to me to connect with you every week. In case you missed it, last week I shared some visual inspiration to help spark creativity my post The Light Returns.
Paid subscribers, keep scrolling for a printable version of the lung illustration “Invisible Growth” shown above. I’m sharing two versions: one with a white background and one with a black background.
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