My 2022 Word of the Year (& my 2023 Word of the Year!)
I’ve chosen a Word of the Year every single year for almost 10 years now! And at the end of every year, I really enjoy the process of reflecting on the past year. I have seen so much growth looking back on this past year, and really noticed how my word showed up in (and changed) my life. In this post, I’m going into the nitty-gritty of how I saw my word show up, what was awesome, what was difficult… AND I’m sharing my word for 2023! 🤩
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Oh. My. GOSH!!! It finally came — the week in between Christmas and New Year’s! Yes, that weird week that everybody online is calling the “Bermuda Triangle” of weeks… it’s my FAVORITE. 😍 It’s the week that I take space to reconnect with my dreams on a deeper level, to look for a fresh start, to set new goals, and to go through the process of reviewing the past year, setting intentions, and turning those intentions into ACTIONS!
My 2022 Word of the Year (AND my 2023 Word!)
At the beginning of this year, I felt a strong pull towards the word “Increase.” And, I’ll be honest… it kinda scared the crap out of me. 😁 But now that we’re at the end of this year, it honestly feels like I have stretch marks. 😂 I grew by LEAPS and BOUNDS this year, and my word mostly showed up in my capacity. What I was able to hold, how much I could hold, and how consistently I held it. Just when I felt like I couldn’t hold anything else… I had to stretch a little bit farther. 😜
What Went Well?
I saw MASSIVE growth in my business this year! I hit a HUGE financial goal that I’ve had for FOUR years! It feels incredible to be able to say, and I am SO grateful! I also got a Virtual Assistant! It’s such an amazing gift to have someone on the Chasing Wonderment Team!!! ☺️
I also saw an increase in my kid’s learning and knowledge! It’s no secret that I don’t love homeschooling (I struggle to teach, and the kids don’t really love having Mom as a teacher, either. 😂)… but both my kids can READ! Whenever they read something out loud, I usually turn to my hubby and whisper “I DID THAT!!!"!
I also saw an increase in my health this year. I worked SO hard to learn how to lift weights and be consistent. It was necessary for some health issues I’ve been struggling with, and it didn’t take long for me to fall in love with it! It’s really satisfying to see the weights go up every couple of weeks! I could physically SEE the growth I was experiencing, when, I couldn’t really see it in other areas of life. 🌿
We’ve also been working on building our new home! Man — it was amazing to see all the progress on the house, from the foundations getting fixed to the siding and new windows. The hours aren’t easy, but it’s SO worth it.
Overall, I feel like I’ve really learned that my capacity is a LOT greater than I ever thought possible. Knowing that I can juggle a TON of different things, be more consistent, and see growth in SO many different areas of life is very rewarding to look back on.
What Went Wrong?
I’ll be honest: Life is NEVER all unicorns and rainbows. So I also want to talk about some of the struggles from this year!
One was my health — even though I saw HUGE gains in the gym, I had very big ups and downs. (Thanks, hormones. 🙄) I think a huge part of that was because such massive increase always brings up TONS of mindset blocks, and I found myself constantly hitting the old, familiar blocks that have stopped me from growth in the past. Only, this time, I was pushing PAST them and staying consistent. It was really difficult to navigate sometimes!
Another area of struggle has been homeschooling! I really struggle with the mundane things of life, and teaching grammar every day is NOT my first love. 😂 But we’re in it for the year, and looking back, I’m really proud of persisting in a task I really don’t like. It’s taught me SO much! 😁
I think the most difficult thing from this year was how often I felt like a failure. (There’s those old mindset blocks again!) I think because I was holding SO MUCH at once, it felt a LOT harder to steward all the things well. I felt like I was failing as a wife, a mom, a home-keeper, a business-owner, a homeschool mom… that little mindset block really tried to creep into every area it could. Looking back, I can see that I wasn’t failing — I was just holding a LOT of different things at the same time, and that meant that sometimes things had to be put on auto-pilot in order for me to be able to stretch out and grab something else. 😌
What did I Learn?
Mostly, I learned that I am CAPABLE. I am capable of so much more than I ever thought possible, and that lesson will stick with me, for sure.
My WORD for 2023
This year, as I sat down to do vision casting and goal setting for the new year, I started by asking God to reveal a word to me! My faith is a really big part of my life, and I really love taking the last week of the year to reset and get more intentional. As I started writing, I noticed some themes popping up in my writing over and over again, and they all had to do with ONE thing: “SPACE.”
So, my word for 2023 is Spacious! It’s not that big of a shock, considering that last year felt like everything was PACKED into every bit of free time and space that I had. But I’m really looking forward to it. Over the past 8-10 years of doing this, I’ve noticed that I usually have a few years of difficult and uncomfortable growth, and then there will be a “respite” year… and this new word feels like REST. 😌
Now, I’m under no illusions, it’s not going to be easy! There will still be areas of struggle, but I am sensing a season of taking deeper breaths. I’m hopeful for a season of having more SPACE for my people (family, community, and clients!). I just keep thinking about the spaciousness that happens when you take a really deep breath… and after the squeeze of last year’s Increase, that sounds really, REALLY good. 😁
How about YOU? Have you chosen a Word of the Year?
Ready to chat about YOUR word of the year?
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