It’s that time of year again – time to figure out who we will be in the ‘New Year’. What a scary thing if you think about it. We are setting ourselves up for the rest of the year. The typical person makes a resolution to diet, exercise, spend more time with family or focus on self-care. That’s fabulous – but the problem is that we very rarely keep these resolutions. It doesn’t take long, maybe days or maybe a couple of months if we are lucky, and then we are back to our old habits. We mess up our diet or forget to do a day of exercise, so we call it quits. We tried, and that’s good enough, right?!
I had been in that boat for so many years. Honestly, I barely made it a week or two most years. It was always the same resolution to lose weight. The biggest problem was that the resolution didn’t include a plan; it was just simply that I needed to lose weight. Without a solid plan, a resolution will never yield fruitful.
Over the last few years, I had been fortunate enough to have a great friend that would ask what our word of the year would be. I hadn’t thought of it before as I was always focused on the big, scary resolution. A word seemed much more manageable. I can honestly tell you that my word of the year kept me going much more than my resolution ever did.
Last year, my word was authentic. I wanted to be me – unapologetically me. I’ve always been a self-proclaimed people pleaser and I wanted to work on doing things because I wanted to do them, not because someone else wanted me to and I didn’t want to let them down. I wanted to be able to be me without worry of what others thought. I mean, I’m in my 30’s – so shouldn’t I be able to dress how I want, listen to the music I want and do things when I want?! Throughout the year, that word kept coming back to me. When I found myself in a dilemma, I reminded myself to be authentic; to be happy with what my gut told me and do as I truly thought was best.
This year I found myself connecting to the word ‘better’. It seemed so cliché as everyone is talking about how 2021 is going to be better than 2020, but I reminded myself that it was the word that was authentic. The word better has some hefty synonyms which is most of the reason I fell in love with it for 2021. They spoke to what I wanted for the year: healthier, fitter, stronger, well, cured, healed, greater. Yes, I want to lose weight and exercise, but ultimately, I want to be healthier. I want to be stronger – physically, mentally and emotionally. I want my world to be well, for so many diseases to be cured and for us all to be healed in every essence of the word. Quite simply, I want to be greater. Greater today than I was yesterday.
So, I challenge you to consider finding your word of 2021. Keep finding, hearing and being that word throughout the year. It is impossible to perfect one word – so we can continually strive to improve on our current status. For example, today I didn’t drink pop. That’s already better than yesterday when I drank three cans just to function. Each day, I can simply wake up and do better.
About the Author:
Sami Jo is a mom of two spirited little girls who love glitter, gas pedals and giggling. She is a volunteer firefighter and first responder, where she serves her community alongside her husband, sister and her father. She works for the American Cancer Society, is a pharmacy technician and helps teach youth at FROG (Fully Relying on God).
