Self word of the year

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Each year, I choose a word of the year. This is a work that I intentionally practice embodying for 365 days. And in this episode, I’m going to share with you what my 2022 word of the year is. So, let’s dive in.

Welcome to the School of Self-Image, where personal development meets style. Here’s your hostess, master life coach Tonya Leigh.

What is happening, my friends? Yes, my voice is different. I’ve been sick. I got COVID over the holidays and I have not left my house in almost 10 days, and I’m going stir crazy. Although, if I were to get COVID, this was the best time for it to happen.

I had already planned to take time off from work. I just thought I would be doing fun things, not staying at home in my PJs, sipping hot tea, and watching a ton of shows on Netflix. But this is what my life has been like for almost two weeks.

I’m definitely starting to feel better. I have a cough that just won’t go away, but the aches are gone and I’m feeling stronger than I was a week ago. So, I’m really grateful for that. I’m grateful for so many things, you all.

I am grateful for my family, my incredible friends. I’m grateful for this community. I’m grateful for my guy. Did you know I got engaged over the holidays? Yeah, I’m as shocked as you are. Didn’t see that coming. But it was such a huge yes in my body and I’m just so grateful to have found an incredible man as my life partner.

So yeah, that happened, and I got COVID. But here we are. It’s the beginning of a new year, and I don’t have a lot of voice to record a long podcast for you. In fact, the podcast that I was going to record, I’m going to save for a later date because I want to go deep into what it was I was going to talk to you about.

But for this podcast, I just wanted to share with you all my word of the year. I have recorded other podcasts about choosing a word of the year. I highly recommend that we all do it. Within the School of Self-Image this month, I’m taking all of the members through an in-depth process for not only choosing your word of the year, but giving them tools on how to apply it so that that word grows you and changes you and helps you reach your goals and to create your vision that you have for yourself.

I’ve been choosing a word of the year for over a decade. And when I look back over the last 10 years, I can definitely see the influence of having a word to guide me year after year. There’s something really powerful about telling your brain what you want to focus on being for an entire year.

For example, last year, I chose the word audacious. And having that at the forefront of my days, to guide my decisions, to guide how I thought, to guide where I lived and the choices that I made really grew me. I made some audacious decisions, and I ended up creating an audacious year as a result.

So, this year, I spent a lot of time in December really thinking about 2022 and what I wanted to experience more of, my goals, and who I needed to become in order to have those experiences and reach those goals. And I kept going back to a few days that I had in Aspen.

So, I was in Aspen in December, beginning of December with my daughter and her boyfriend. They were there for the first part of the trip. And then my guy and his daughter came out for the second half.

But when I was there the first half with my daughter and her boyfriend, they were off doing their own thing, and I had several days of just me, where I woke up and I eased into my day, and then I had periods of intense, focused work. And then I would work out, and then I would go to happy hour.

It was just perfect days. They felt so aligned. And I went to bed every night that week feeling so proud of myself. And I think that is the most glorious feeling to have; especially for those of us who knows what it feels like to be disappointed in ourselves. I spent a large part of my early adulthood being perpetually disappointed in myself.

So, to have that feeling of being proud of yourself is something that I recommend all of us create more of for ourselves. And so, when I was choosing my word of the year, I just kept thinking about those few days and how aligned I felt, how productive I felt, how relaxed I felt, how excited I felt, how healthy I felt.

And I was like, “Okay, I want more of that. I want to feel more of that in 2022.” So, the question became, who do I need to become to create more of that?

Several words came to mind when I was thinking about that question, but there was one in particular that stood out. And I know, if I make this my word of the year, which I am, it’s going to have extraordinary results in my life.

The word is, “Impressive.” I want to be an impressive woman. Now, my focus is not on impressing other people. I spent a large part of my early adulthood doing that and the results were not good because the person I wasn’t impressing was myself. I was making choices that were out of alignment with my values and who I really wanted to be, to gain the approval and admiration of other people. I never suggest that.

But what I am wanting to do is impress myself this year. I want to have those days that feel impressive. When I go to bed at night and I’m like, “Wow, look at what you did, look at what you accomplished.” And not just accomplished in a sense of what I create, but what I accomplished emotionally, mentally.

I don’t want to burn myself out this year. I want to have those days like I had in Aspen where I’m enjoying and I’m working hard. It’s like playing like a dog. Dogs know how to play. They’re playing hard, but they’re having the time of their life doing it. That’s how I want to feel this year.

I want to have time to take care of myself and work out and take care of my health. And I want to produce at a higher level than I’ve ever produced in my entire life. And I know doing that, I will impress myself.

And if other people find that impressive, great. I hope I can inspire other people. But that’s not the point. I want to impress myself. I am the person that has to lay down with me every single night and I have to get up with myself every single morning. I want to focus on that relationship and how I think about and feel about myself.

So, my word of the year for 2022 is, “Impressive.” I want to make decisions that are impressive. I want to show up in impressive ways. I want to surround myself with people who impress upon me what’s possible.

And so, I’m really excited to see how this word grows me, how I changes me, and what results it allows me to create when I focus every single day on being an impressive woman.

Now, I want to hear from you, what is your word of the year? Head over to Instagram, find me, @tonyaleigh. Send me a DM or leave a comment under one of my posts and tell me what your word of the year is. Because I will be over here cheering you on. I’m really excited about what this year holds for each of us, and I can’t wait to see how our words of the year grow and evolve us in 2022. Have a great week, everyone.

Hey, before you go, don’t forget to sign up for my upcoming five-day live workshop called Live Like an Editor. You can head over to schoolofselfimage.com/workshop and I cannot wait to see you inside.

What Is My Story?

Story. An invisible-yet-felt weight, the word landed on my chest while I was lying on a yoga mat, cooling down from a hot 90 class.

It was December 2014. I was living in a new city, working multiple hourly jobs. Mostly, I was feeling uncertain about myself and where I was going in life. So when a friend suggested I choose a word for the new year—“It may help you find some clarity and purpose”—I was skeptical but eager. How does one go about choosing a word? I spent the next few weeks pondering the idea, using spare moments to contemplate possible themes for the forthcoming year. Then, one afternoon in yoga class, it hit me. 

“The word gave me something to look for and cling to throughout seemingly mundane days.”

I wrote the word in Sharpie at the top of my journal later that day. And over the next 12 months, I spent many hours and entries pondering my story, both its origin and my role as author in my life. “I realize more and more how much control I have over my choices and my reactions,” I wrote in one entry. “Yesterday, I did something I was not planning on doing and applied for grad school…I am curious to see where this path leads.” 

It was the beginning of a dream that, years later, would lead me back to school, where I would cultivate my love for writing, specifically memoir (or origin stories). But more than that, the word gave me something to look for and cling to throughout my seemingly mundane days. There was depth and purpose, I discovered, and even the most insignificant moments were pages in my larger story.

Words can change how we process life, according to researchers Andrew Newberg, M.D. and Mark Robert Waldman. More specifically, positive words can alter our expression of genes, motivate us, and help us to build resilience.

“By holding a positive and optimistic [word] in your mind, you stimulate frontal lobe activity,” the authors write in their book (aptly titled), “Words Can Change Your Brain.” “This area includes specific language centers that connect directly to the motor cortex responsible for moving you into action.”

“Choosing a word and holding it in my mind throughout the year shifted my thinking.”

Choosing a word and holding it in my mind throughout the year shifted my thinking. Even when 2015 ended and I began to contemplate a new word, I realized story was now a permanent part of my life, a theme I would watch for as I ventured to graduate school, but also for many years after. It continues to shape the way I process the world today.

Now, with another new year, I find myself turning to this favorite practice once again. Below are a few of the tips and tricks I’ve found helpful when looking for my word (I’m still searching for 2022). If you’re also eager to choose a “word” for your year, I invite you to join me.

How To Find Your Word

Be Open To Your Word Finding You

In the early weeks of the new year, I shift my internal posture to stay open and observant of the world around me. I am on a quest to find my word, but I also believe this word is looking for me. 

“Pay careful attention—to the books you’re reading, to what others are saying, to the signs you see in shops or on public transport.”

Pay careful attention—to the books you’re reading, to what others are saying, to the signs you see in shops or on public transport. Advertisements and billboards can become maps for potential clues. 

Often, I have an inkling of my word already, or at least acknowledgement of the theme—and this may be true for you. What do you want to work on in the next year? How do you wish to grow? Do you have dreams that are not yet realized?

Consider these questions and note any potential patterns. Look for your word but also invite it to find you. 

Use Art (Or Friends!) For Help

Some years I don’t find my word until I stop looking and start creating. One January, for example, I discovered two words: middle and feel. I had been going through a difficult season where I noticed myself avoiding my emotions and attempting to rush to the “good part” of life. But what I needed was to pause, feel the pain, and be okay sitting in “the middle,” however long it would take. That didn’t just come to me, though. I had to rely on free-writing exercises to help me understand what I needed. 

Here’s how it works: I’ll grab some blank sheets of paper (ones that I will certainly throw out) and write random thoughts for 30 or so minutes. When I read back through my writing, I’ll jot down through lines I notice, sometimes even using an Etymology book or thesaurus to find synonyms for common themes. 

“Consider turning to art to guide you […] Music, dancing, painting, collaging, and sculpting can all work, too—whatever feels most like you.”

If the first few weeks of the year pass and you still don’t have an idea, consider turning to art to guide you. It doesn’t have to be writing, either. Music, dancing, painting, collaging, and sculpting can all work, too—whatever feels most like you.

If you’d rather explore your word in community, you can also gather with friends and make it a group activity. Play music, serve some snacks, and grab a stack of old magazines (you can also do this virtually). Subconsciously rip and tear the images that speak to you. Then, collage the images and words into a notebook, doing your best not to overthink it. Once done, share your vision board with your friends. Chat through themes and patterns you all notice. They may even have word suggestions for you based on their interpretations. 

Play With Various Words (It’s Okay To Have Many!)

In recent years, I’ve noticed my word will evolve depending on the season or different happenings in my life. I have also had “words” that were actually mottos or entire sentences. In 2018, for example, my word was a famous Brené Brown quote: “Strong Back. Soft Front. Wild Heart.”

“Your word is not set in stone, and it can change and morph throughout the year and even refine itself into something more specific.”

Your word is not set in stone, and it can change and morph throughout the year and even refine itself into something more specific.

Perhaps your word for 2022 is mindfulness because you want to be more present and attentive to the small details of your life. But mindfulness may show up differently for you as the months and seasons tick on. You may notice embodiment is your theme during the summer as you spend more time outside. Then, as fall and winter approach, your word may change to hibernate or rest. Embrace these changes and remain curious. 

Remember that words have many meanings and will look different for everyone. And also, not all words work out. In 2019, I chose the word grit because I was in my final year of grad school, and I felt like I needed a word to help me finish my program and graduate. But by summer, I had completed school, and the word felt irrelevant. I stopped journaling and forgot about my word altogether.

This practice is for you alone, and there is no correct or one way to do it.

Revisit Your Word Throughout The Year 

The best part of the practice is remembering your word and seeing how it shows up for you in the next 12 months. In 2022, I’m using a large notebook and creating full-spread mood boards each month to see how my word evolves, and really, how I grow over the next year. In the past, I’ve also done monthly journal check-ins and kept my word visible via post-it notes throughout my home. By documenting the journey, I love that I get to have a time capsule to revisit for decades to come. 

“The best part of the practice is remembering your word and seeing how it shows up for you in the next 12 months.”

If journaling isn’t for you, you can also try sitting with your word in meditation, creating monthly art or music playlists, or enlisting a trusted friend for monthly dinners/coffee dates. They may even want to select a word as well so you can chat about your individual journeys together.

Have you selected your word for 2022? Feel free to share in the comments below! 

Kayti Christian (she/her) is a Senior Editor at The Good Trade. She has a Master’s in Nonfiction Writing from the University of London and is the creator of Feelings Not Aside, a newsletter for enneagram 4s and other sensitive-identifying people. Outside of writing, she loves hiking, reading memoir, and the Oxford comma.

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Selfie – «a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website» – has been named word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries editors, after the frequency of its usage increased by 17,000% over the past 12 months.

Editorial director Judy Pearsall said: «Using the Oxford Dictionaries language research programme, which collects around 150m words of current English in use each month, we can see a phenomenal upward trend in the use of selfie in 2013, and this helped to cement its selection.»

The word can be traced back to a post on an Australian online forum in 2002: «Um, drunk at a mates 21st, I tripped ofer [sic] and landed lip first (with front teeth coming a very close second) on a set of steps. I had a hole about 1cm long right through my bottom lip. And sorry about the focus, it was a selfie.»

It has since produced an array of spinoffs, including helfie (hairstyle self), belfie (bum selfie), welfie (workout selfie), drelfie (drunken selfie), and even bookshelfie – a snap taken for the purposes of literary self-promotion.

Judy Pearsall explained its evolution: «The hashtag #selfie appeared on the photo-sharing website Flickr as early as 2004, but usage wasn’t widespread until around 2012.

«In early examples, the word was often spelled with a -y, but the -ie form is more common today and has become the accepted spelling. The use of the diminutive -ie suffix is notable, as it helps to turn an essentially narcissistic enterprise into something rather more endearing. Australian English has something of a penchant for -ie words … so this helps to support the evidence for selfie having originated in Australia.»

Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year shortlist

bedroom tax, noun, informal:

(in the UK) a reduction in the amount of housing benefit paid to a claimant if the property they are renting is judged to have more bedrooms than is necessary for the number of the people in the household, according to criteria set down by the government.

The Welfare Reform Act 2012 proposed various changes to the rules governing social security benefits in the UK, including an «under-occupancy penalty» to be imposed on households that were receiving housing benefit and that were judged to have bedrooms surplus to their requirements. Critics and opponents soon began to refer to the new penalty as the «bedroom tax». The first references to the bedroom tax in our corpus appear in 2011 but usage increased dramatically around the time this new provision came into force, in April 2013.

binge-watch, verb:

to watch multiple episodes of a television programme in rapid succession, typically by means of DVDs or digital streaming. [ORIGIN 1990s: from BINGE + WATCH, after BINGE-EAT, BINGE-DRINK.]

The word binge-watch has been used in the circles of television fandom since the late 1990s, but it has exploded into mainstream use in 2013. The word has come into its own with the advent of on-demand viewing and online streaming. In 2013, binge-watching got a further boost when the video-streaming company Netflix began releasing episodes of its serial programming all at once. In the past year, binge-watching chalked up almost as much evidence on our corpus as binge-eating. (Binge-drinking remains unchallenged in the top position.)

bitcoin, noun:

a digital currency in which transactions can be performed without the need for a central bank. Also, a unit of bitcoin. [ORIGIN early 21st century: from BIT, in the computing sense of «a unit of information» and COIN.]

The term first appeared in late 2008 in a research paper, and the first bitcoins were created in 2009. By 2012, the virtual currency was attracting wider attention and we began to see its steadily increasing use. A spike in usage was apparent in March–May 2013, which may be due in part to the market crash around that time.

olinguito, noun:

a small furry mammal found in mountain forests in Colombia and Ecuador, the smallest member of the raccoon family. [ORIGIN 2013: diminutive form of OLINGO, a South American mammal resembling the kinkajou.]

The discovery of the olinguito was announced by the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in August: it represented the first identification of a new species of mammalian carnivore in the western hemisphere in 35 years. Extensive coverage of the story in the world’s media was guaranteed by the animal’s appearance – it was described as looking like a cross between a teddy bear and a domestic cat.

schmeat, noun, informal:

a form of meat produced synthetically from biological tissue. [ORIGIN early 21st century: perhaps from SYNTHETIC and MEAT, influenced by the use of «- -, schm — -» as a disparaging or dismissive exclamation.]

Man-made meat is more commonly (and neutrally) known as «in-vitro meat» or «cultured meat». This word remains very rare, largely because the phenomenon it refers to is still in its infancy. However, in August 2013, the world’s first hamburger made with in-vitro meat was served up by Dutch scientists, raising the possibility that the general public may have more occasion to use this word in the not-too-distant future.

showrooming, noun:

the practice of visiting a shop or shops in order to examine a product before buying it online at a lower price. [ORIGIN early 21st century: from SHOWROOM, «a room used to display goods for sale».]

Before 2013, there were just a handful of examples of this on our corpus. We’ve seen this figure increase significantly, along with use of the related verb «to showroom» and the noun «showroomer».

twerk, verb:

dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance. [ORIGIN 1990s: probably an alteration of WORK.]

Twerk seems to have arisen in the early 1990s, in the context of the bounce music scene in New Orleans. By the mid-1990s, we see evidence of twerk being used online in newsgroups to describe a specific type of dancing. The most likely theory about the origin of this word is that it is an alteration of work, because that word has a history of being used in similar ways, with dancers being encouraged to «work it». The «t» could be a result of blending with another word such as twist or twitch. Its association with Miley Cyrus this summer created a huge spike of usage in the media, especially social media.

Previous words of the year

2012 Omnishambles
2011 squeezed middle
2010 big society
2009 simples
2008 credit crunch
2007 carbon footprint
2006 bovvered
2005 sudoku
2004 chav