Happy New Year! Today’s NaBloPoMo writing prompt asks, “What are your resolutions for the new year? Tell us how you picked them.” Well, perhaps it’s the rebel in me, but you know what? I’m really not great with resolutions. Oh, I’ve made them in the past… and I’ve had the very best of intentions when doing so… but sooner or later (usually sooner!) I begin to resent the abrupt change in lifestyle and strict, unrealistic rules I’ve imposed upon myself and, inevitably, give up in frustration.
Resolutions, for me, seem to be a waste of effort.
But in 2014 I tried something new for the first time: instead of making a bunch of unattainable resolutions, I claimed an inspirational word and then used that word and what it represented to set the tone for my year and lay a path for the direction in which I wanted to head. No dramatic changes, no regulations, and no need for rebellion – just a gentle, thoughtful focus to guide my behaviour and choices. And as it turned out, I liked and benefited from the practice so much that I decided to make it my new tradition… so here I am, back for another go at it in 2015!
At the heart of my chosen word for the coming year is a desire to improve my life by taking small steps to change my attitude and reframe my thinking. Not a massive overhaul or giant leap or unsustainable commitment; rather, a SHIFT from listening to the lie of perfectionism that says, “If I can’t do everything, then I’m going to do nothing”… to acting on the truth that even five minutes of productivity with purpose is life-improving.
My 2105 Word of the Year – “Shift”
Already today I’ve had two small affirmations that I’m on the right track. The first came as I was scrolling through my Instagram feed this morning and saw a post by Jamie Oliver about the new YOU-app for the iPhone which provides daily “simple micro-actions” for you to carry out along with a platform to share photos of and comments about your actions. The goal of the app team is to “empower our users to make change happen in their own life. We want to go from the smallest individual action to the biggest change possible.”
Right up my alley!
The second instance occurred when I was doing my first-of-the-month ritual of changing my computer desktop wallpaper to one of the new calendar designs featured on Smashing Magazine, and came across one with text in a beautiful script reminding me to Start Somewhere.
Yes, that’s it – exactly!
So, thus affirmed and eager to go, here’s to a SHIFT in my thoughts and actions in 2015.
Now it’s your turn!
Here’s how you can get involved in the 2015 Word of the Year linkup:
- Write and post an entry in your own blog about the word you chose for 2015.
- Share the URL to your post by clicking the “add your link” button at the end of this post and filling out the information.
- Important! Please share the 2015 Word of the Year linkup with your blog readers by clicking the “get the InLinkz code” link at the end of this post and copy/pasting the appropriate code into your blog post.
- Visit some of the blogs listed in the linkup and comment on their posts.
