word of the year
Welcome to the first blog I’ve written since April of 2021. I love to write. I’ve kept a journal regularly for years now. It’s one of my favorite ways to process my thoughts and feelings and emotions, outside of physical movement like running. But for some reason, this process of writing blogs for my office got away from me. I think I was putting too much pressure on myself to “get it right”, “to have it perfect”, “to have it be important”. So I kind of lost my love of writing. One of the things that I’d like to do for this upcoming year is to at least have a new blog every month. It doesn’t have to be right, perfect, or important either. But I kind of want to get back to it for me, and maybe the thoughts I share will resonate with you.
I started picking a word of the year in 2018. And I have this ratty piece of paper that’s in my Bible that lists all my words of the year and a few thoughts and reflections on how that word played out.
2018: GROWTH -> SURRENDER: And that year was a literal shit show. I say that to mean it was pure chaos when I was in the midst of it, and it took some reflective hindsight to see the gifts of the turmoil. That year was so much of a shit show, that I changed my word to surrender part way through because there was no way I was going to survive using my strength alone. Hindsight shows me how much growth really happened. How the word growth was perfect because I grew in my faith which was tied so much to surrendering my thoughts, worries, and fears.
2019: KUMBHAKA. (the pause between inhale and exhale where we can choose how we react to situations). I worked on embracing the reflection. The time where you pause to see if something aligns with you. And then you make a decision. That year I was very intentional with what I scheduled, and I was very intentional with my time.
2020: ALIGNMENT. I just wanted to do things that aligned with me. I actually wrote a blog back in 2019 (titled 2020 Vision – Reflecting on a Decade) very similar to this one, and here’s the little clip for the hopes that I had for this word,
“I know, I know, so cliché for a chiropractor to choose this word, but hear me out. For me alignment represents choosing activities, clubs, and organizations which align with my goals and dreams. It represents saying yes to somethings, and probably a whole lotta no’s to things. It represents using words and actions which align with who I am and who I want to be. It represents defining what it means to be healthy and investing in the health and wellness of my family. And it also represents the structural beauty of the nervous system. How the natural curves of the spine are essential for proper nervous system function. Alignment to me doesn’t mean straight and rigid. The curves of the spine help the brain and body communicate efficiently and the curves of our lives help us to become who we are meant to be.”
Can I just say wow, as I re-read that. Cause we all know what happened in 2020……the beginning of COVID which had me saying a whole lotta no’s to things and really having to stick to guns on what aligned with me, my beliefs, and my family.
2021: SISU. (Finnish word for moxie). I had originally chosen the word moxie while we were eating lunch at Moxie Burger in between soccer games. I wanted it to mean “force of character, determination, nerve” ( the true definition of the word). Well, we were all still very much in the midst of COVID. And that year ended up being a whole lot of me standing strong on my beliefs in what it means to be healthy. I switched to the Finnish word in honor of my dad’s side of the family, and it felt more genuine.
2022: AWARENESS. Wow - as I look over my thoughts from that year, I’m reminded of how big this word was for me. It ended up turning into a phrase: awareness precedes change. And boy there was lots of change. I brought awareness to my marriage, my kids, my business, and it was the first step to making changes in how I presented myself in specific areas of my life.
2023: RHYTM. I wanted to keep the awareness, but move into the next year with a rhythm. Not balance – that’s to cliché. I didn’t want to use the word flow because it felt overused. But rhythm meant not pushing so hard all the time. It meant embracing seasons of planting, growth, harvesting, and renewal. I learned that the rhythm of my morning devotional time is non-negotiable. And the biggest reflection from last year is that when I’m in rhythm and my cup is full, I’m a better human.
2024: BOLD. Not gonna lie, I’m a little scared of this word. It reminds me of the year I picked growth, and as I often write in my journal “I know that life has struggles, but I’d really like to just not have to go through anything really difficult right now”. But I’m applying this word to several areas of my identity. I want to be bold in my faith, bold in my marriage, bold with my kids, bold with my actions and goals. I guess it boils down to stepping out boldly in my faith and letting that infiltrate all areas of my life.
I’d love to know if you pick a word of the year. For years now, patients know I pick words, and they’ve begun to pick some as well. We’ve had some amazing and in-depth conversations about our words. So, next time you’re in the office, let’s chat about your word of the year.