My Word for the Year 2022 with Lessons from the Past

Adopting a word for the year instead of a New Year's resolution has been a practice I first started in 1989! Yes, I am that old. 

I was 19 and was not keen on resolutions. They seem pointless to me then and now. I remember being at my friend's NYE party and deciding that I was going to make 1989 the Year of "What the Hell." 

For the remainder of the year, I used the mantra to try new experiences, take risks and live my life fully. This is the year I took lots of risks, learn lots of lessons, and grew a great deal. Since then, this practice evolved into what I have been doing since reading the book the Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte. 

For the past few years, I have picked one word that defines how I want to live and the mantra for my life. 

The last couple of years my words have been:
2017 - Acceptance
2018 - Adventure
2019 - Amazing
2020 - Power
2021 -Relentless

In helping me pick my word for 2022, I reflected on what I could use more in my life, what I needed less of, and what characteristics I wanted to embody. I also visualized how I wanted to feel at the end of each day, week, month, and the entire 2022. 

In this episode, I shared some of the conversations from the podcast that helped me find my word. I looked back at speaking to Corinne Crabtree my coach and NoBS Weighloss woman. She and I talked about how we want to hang on to identities that don't serve us and make us play small. 

MaryAnn Alda trademarked the term "aging shamelessly." also gave me some wise words about learning to ask for help, learning to share my story, because in sharing our experiences we will see ourselves there and learn more. 

JoD Livingston taught me that we don't have to get an organ transplant like her to get a second chance. We can all learn to write a new chapter for our life. 

So, start your year by deciding who you want to become, how you want to feel and where you want to be by the end of 2022. Perhaps by becoming who you want to be, you can show others what is possible and that we don't have to shrink who we are. 

Lastly, like my friend Seth Eliot says, in order to move from grief to grace, stop being stuck in the past, but allow it to inform who you can be. 

By the way....drum roll please... my word is Connected...