As part of #oneword365, Balance was my word for 2016. Do you know how hard it is to find Balance in your life? Sometimes I thought I had found the answer and then other days I was so out of equilibrium that I felt dizzy!
Whilst I am still working towards attaining more Balance in my life, my word for 2017 is ‘Simplify’. Actually perhaps my 2017 word will help me achieve Balance which I so desperately wanted in 2016.
Life is a blur at the moment. 2016 saw the passing of my father-in-law and increased care of my 90 year old mother-in-law. Days just seemed to run into the other over the last six months of the year. I was tired constantly and found I couldn’t sleep. No time for my husband and the one joy of each week was minding my darling grandson Ethan.
In 2017 I just want to step back and simplify my life (and perhaps take some of my own advice that I’ve written about on the blog!).
Simplify my thoughts
I’m guilty of overthinking and worry can rob me of happiness at times. Worry is such a wasted emotion, so in 2017 I’m aiming to give my mind a rest and simplify my thoughts. I’ve decided to increase my yoga and meditate (seriously) each day.
Simplify my connections
In 2016, Social Media and my blog totally took over my life. Checking who was following, who wasn’t, who subscribed, who unsubscribed. Was my content good enough? Did I write too much or too little?
I started the blog when I retired as a way of expressing myself and encouraging others to lead a healthier and happier life in midlife. However, 2016 found me spending so much time on social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Stumbleupon, Flipboard and Niume.
Phew! I’m exhausted just thinking about it!
I have spent hours, commenting on other blog posts in several Facebook Groups plus maintaining my Sizzling Towards 60 Facebook page and my #couchpotatotofabfit Facebook Group PLUS my website that my ‘hobby in retirement’ took over my life.
I’m am assured by many other bloggers that they feel this pressure on their time as well.
The answer?
- Reassess why I blog and stick to my plan
- Don’t compare myself with other bloggers
- If I don’t enjoy what I’m doing then find something that I do enjoy
Simplify my time
Sounds simple doesn’t it? However, when I look at what fills my time at the moment, there isn’t much ‘fun’ time. Not saying ‘No’ enough and doing things that don’t make me happy has taken up too much of my precious time.
The answer?
In 2017, I will jealously guard my time and be more discerning in how I spend it.
That includes:
- spending more quality time with my darling,
- spending time with my family and friends in person rather than social media or texting
- I will also still be running with my Saturday Sisters but I also want to try new things. In fact, I recently wrote a post ’17 things on my ‘to do’ list in 2017′ which details things I would like to try or make time for in 2017.
- I want to ‘just be’ each day and appreciate the wonder of a beautiful blue sky or the happiness that flowers can bring just by looking at them.
In other words appreciate the simple things in life – a cliche but true.
Well I think that is a good start to putting my word for 2017 into practice. I will be sharing my progress throughout the year and hope you will follow along.
Would you like to Simplify your life? If not, what would your Word for 2017 be?
Let’s Keep Sizzling!
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
Women Living Well After 50
Living Life Your Way
Around this time every year, people start choosing their “words” for 2017. I’ve done it, too…last year was my Year of the Crash. The year before was my Year of the Brave.
This year, I wanted to make things simple. Do you ever feel like you set out to do “all the things” and then get overwhelmed? (You might try my List of Now printable from last year! It might help!) As I was thinking about a specific word and praying about what my focus would be for this year, I discovered something uh-mazing.
The word WORD is an acrostic for what I’d like to do this year (the acrostic 
must be an English teacher thing). But specifically, these are things I want to make happen every day of the next 365 days.
Because ANY day could be my last day, I need to make EVERY day my best day. That means LIVING that way. I believe these four goals will point me in the right direction.
- W – Write. I am working on my nonfiction manifesto – an invitation for YOU ALL to join me on the best day ever adventure. I want to WRITE EVERYDAY, even if it is just one or two words (um, but hopefully more than that). My goal is to finish, publish, and have the book available by late spring/early summer. I canNOT wait to share it with you!
- O – Outside. I find great joy in the outdoors, breathing in fresh air, appreciating creation. I want to make sure I am outside (even for just a few minutes) every, single day.
- R – Read. This is a big one. I am currently buried in the 15 books I got for Christmas (I looooove smelling the new book smell). I’m dabbling in Modern Mrs. Darcy’s Reading Challenge, but my actual goal is to read something every day (at least 100 words).
- D – Devotion & Prayer. I’m going to daily commit myself to the most important part – my spiritual self – which affects and is connected to every other part of my life. I recently read an amazing quote by a popular TED speaker:
We’re always being told, rightly, to tend to our forests and to clean up our air, but we’re less often reminded to try to protect the wild spaces inside our imaginations (where the future will get made) or to clean up the skies in our souls (where toxins can be more poisonous than any external pollution). Even as we’re so proud of filling our bodies with locally sourced, farm-to-table, organic food, we fill our minds with junk.
By filling my mind with goodness – with scripture, with prayer, with devotion, I am protecting the spaces of my mind, filling my soul with Jesus, and getting rid of the junk. And I need to do this regularly. Daily.
I got a super cool Moleskin (obsessed with journals!) for Christmas, and I will be chronicling my journey through my WORD, all the writing words, reading words, inspired words from outside, and the Words of God.
Recently I’ve been reading a lot about the Danish custom/word/action (it is all of the above) of hygge (pronounced hoo-GAH). Crazy enough, the Oxford Dictionary named hygge as one of its words of 2016! There are countless definitions, but in essence, Hyggehouse defines it as…
…a feeling or mood that comes from taking genuine pleasure in making ordinary, every day moments more meaningful, beautiful or special.
As we think toward 2017, adopting the art of making ordinary, every day moments more meaningful, beautiful, or special sounds like a good idea. I’m not sure I would employ all the customs of hygge…after all, I’m not Danish that I know of (I AM adopted, my friends!). But I want to live a life that doesn’t miss the moments. Every day is the best day ever. And every day, I’m offered a plate. I can’t choose what happens, but I CAN choose how I respond.
Bring it, 2017. I’m ready for you.
What’s YOUR WORD for 2017? I’d love to read about it in the comments…
My most popular posts of 2016:
10 reasons you don’t need a boyfriend (or girlfriend) in high school
teachupsidedown: 50 brain breaks to engage ALL students in the classroom
The first (soon to be annual) Wisehart Christmas card/blog is HERE.
HAPPY NEW YEAR 🎉 Hope you all had a lovely New Year’s celebration. Jeremy and I had a super fun time celebrating with our friends at a party in Westchester. So far imma fan of 2017, but then again we’re less than 48 hours into the new year 🙂
‘Tis the season to set some big ass goals as we begin 2017. Later this week I’ll delve into my resolutions for 2017 but today I wanted to focus on my guiding word for the year and how to choose your own.
A guiding word is a word or phrase that you want to embody in the next year. You know how in the beginning of a yoga class you’re asked to set an intention for the next 60 minutes? A word to focus on when the going gets tough and the chaturungas start to suck? A word that represents how you want to go about your practice that day.
A guiding word is kind of like that, a word that’s your guide through the next 365 days, even if it’s something you don’t actively think about every waking second.
My word last year, fearless, so perfectly embodied where I was at that point in my life. It was what I really and truly needed this year to get where I want to be. I needed to stop being so afraid because that fear was holding me back.
This time around I really struggled to figure out what my word of 2017 would be. It sounds crazy but I was sad to let go of fearless as my guiding word. It was SO what I needed and something I want to continue to embody.
Around 2:00AM in the midst of a caffeine-induced sleepless night during finals, I finally figured it out. THANK GOD.
So after much (much, much, much) thinking, my guiding word of 2017 is…
In 2017 I want to cultivate more focus in my life.
Once I finally figured it out, focus felt like such an obvious choice and therefore perfect fit for 2017. I’ve been so scattered in the last year, jumping all around. When things get rough, I want to quit because I instantly forget why I’m doing something in the first place (I’m looking at YOU, grad school statistics).
But I need to remember to put my head down, be patient and stay focused on my why.
After being so open, daring and ballsy last year while I lived as fearlessly as possible, I now need to bring myself back inward a teeny tiny bit.
Being fearless helped me hone in on my blog voice and be proud of even being a blogger in the first place. Screw it if some asshole I went to high school with think it’s weird that I make money sharing intimate details of my life…
Being fearless also made Holistic Happening a thing.
Now that I’ve got exciting opportunities on my plate, I gotta do something with them!
In 2017 I will be…
✨ Focused, literally. In this day and age of social media, I have the attention span of a gnat. Writing this blog post took me an hour longer than it should have thanks to checking my email and texting and refreshing instagram.
I strive to be more focused in my daily life, which for me means staying on task and not getting distracted by every noise my phone makes…
✨ Focused on my why. Towards the end of this semester of grad school, I started questioning why I was even doing this in the first place. I don’t know if you know this but studying SUCKS. I’d rather use that time and energy on this blog or Holistic Happening.
In the thick of things, I momentarily forgot why I was even doing the whole grad school thing in the first place. I ultimately want to work with solopreneurs and small business owners in wellness on their social media, helping them to harness these platforms while also figuring out their digital voice in the process. I feel this particular grad school program will help me get to that goal.
When I stay focused on the why, the studying doesn’t seem so shitty any more.
✨ Focused on my goals. Both the big ones and the small ones. This means doing the necessary work to conquer these goals, be it finally doing three pull-ups (this has been my resolution for the last 6+ years…) or making sure each Holistic Happening event is more successful than the one before.
How to choose your guiding word for 2017
Last year I just knew my word for 2016 had to be FEARLESS. This year, it took me a lot longer to figure out the perfect guide word for this year.
⚡️ Think about what you’ve accomplished in the last year. I started here because the truth is, I didn’t want to use a word I was already “manifesting” — what’s the fun in that? Like for me, energy would be a terrible word choice. I already feel like a chicken with it’s head cut off most days…
⚡️ Now, think about the things you wanted to accomplish, but didn’t get around to. Is there a common thread or reason why it didn’t happen?
⚡️ Start making a list of what you want to feel this year in addition to what you want to accomplish. What characteristics will you need to get you to conquer that goal? Is the way you want to feel something you can manifest in multiple areas of your life?
As I tortured myself trying to figure out my word for this year, I started making a big ass list of words that described things I want to do this year. Words like deeper because I want to get deeper in my practice of yoga and knowledge of marketing. Patience because I’m really impatient…
Focus was maybe the 5th word I wrote down. Once I started thinking about focus and how it related to all aspects of my life, I realized it was the perfect fit.
⚡️ Trust that whatever word you settle on is the right word. Don’t let this stress you out. Whatever word or phrase you land upon, I’m sure it’s the right one for right now.
And at the end of the day if this none of this resonates with you, forget everything I just said 🙂 I’ve seen people get crazed about finding the perfect word for the new year and that’s definitely not what this is about.
Your turn: What’s your guiding word for 2017?
Ready to start this New Year?
One of the best ways to get clarity is to choose a word, ONE word to focus on, to dive into, to be your theme for the year.
In 2016, I chose receive to be that word.
I’ve spent the last 12 months really exploring what that means to me. I asked:
- How do I allow myself to receive?
- Where am I limiting that?
- How do I experience opening up to recieve in my body, mind…
Through this process, I learned a lot about myself. Where I hold back, where I get stuck, where I feel afraid. Through a deeper relationship with this word, receive, it’s helped me open up more, relax more and allow myself to feel safe, comfortable and happy to let in all the abundance, happiness, opportunities and change that has come my way this year.
And now it’s time for me to choose a new word.
Here are 3 Ways to Help You Tune into Your Word for 2017
1. Ask
Get quiet and simply ask: What is my word for 2017? Is there something I could benefit from focusing on?
Here is a list of words some of my students have chosen in the past: bold, trust, faith, love, dream. balance, speak, mindfulness, pause, deliberate.
2. Use A Book
If you’ve asked and nothing comes to you, you can always try this cool trick.
Grab a book, any book, off the shelf and close your eyes. Think abot your word for the year and then randomly open the book. See where your eye lands and what it reveals.
3. Meditate On It
Once a word comes to you, try it on. Settle into the energy of that word.
- How does it feel?
- Is there an opportunity for learning and growth?
- Is this where you need to go in 2017?
If the answers feel affirming, you’re on the right track. Don’t be dismayed if you feel scared. That’s often a pre-requisite to change.
My husband tells me that if he feels afraid, he knows he’s onto something!
Have fun with this and see where it takes you.
And if you’re ready to dive in more, download my FREE vision worksheet to really jump start your year!
Here’s to an amazing, wonderful 2017!
Shakti Sutriasa is the Founder of Decide Differently which provides tools for personal development and self transformation including: one-on-one support, workshops, meditation and more. Shakti’s unique approach combines modern psychology and spirituality to help people align to purpose, experience greater happiness, as well as release anxiety, and stress. Shakti is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and has an MA in Education. Learn More
Related
It’s the start of a new year, so that means plenty of introspection on what I want to make a priority in 2017. I would love to make everything a priority and do it all. But there is a reality that there are only 24 hours in a day so picking a word, or two, can help guide my choices throughout the year.
The first thing I did was make a list of possible words. And it was almost 100 words long. Too big of a pile to even dream of narrowing down so I turned to my art and art journals. I flipped through the pages and found some words used over and over or ones that held particularly strong meaning. That list of 21 words is above.
I’ve spent about a week narrowing the list down, and it’s down to 2. Conventional wisdom holds that one word is picked but I am feeling that I need two this year. Which two will guide me this year? Dare and Freedom.
What about you? What’s your word, or two, for the year?