2020 Word of the Year

Happy New Year!

Do you take time each New Year to reflect on the past year?  Last year making pizza dough for the last time in 2018 had me reminiscing. As 2019 ended and 2020 began, my reflection came as I was reading through my past blog posts. If you’ve read my blog before, you might have noticed that I’m a fan of having a Word of the Year, a word or phrase that encompasses any goals or attitudes I want to have for the New Year ahead. In years past, I’ve chosen words out of what I thought I was lacking. A couple years ago, I chose Gentleness as my word. I don’t know how far I even got into the year before I completely forgot about gentleness…and lost my temper with my kids.

I think part of the reason I forget my Word of the Year is that I never display it anywhere. Many friends have suggested to me that they have the most success remembering goals, encouragement, etc. by posting it around the house. One of my favorite people shared that when she is in a funk, she hangs God’s promises on her bathroom mirror, fridge, basically wherever she frequents in her home, to read and combat the negative junk she’s feeling.

I like the idea of hanging up a word or phrase where I can see it first thing in the morning. But I’ve always wanted to get a bracelet with my Word so I would have that reminder with me at all times. I’m wondering if wearing my intention will help me pull myself out of my funk on the tough days.

Now that I am a MyIntent Maker, I wanted to make myself a bracelet with my intention for 2020. The only tricky part was coming up with the phrase or word that encompasses what I want for my intention. As I read through my blog posts for this past year, I noticed a few themes:

After talking with a couple friends and thinking about what I want for 2020, I chose…

DO THE WORK.

Now that I had my Intention/Word of the Year/whatever you call it, I started to think about what goals I want to achieve. Someone mentioned recently (okay, I was watching a YouTube video) that when they set goals, they try to think of it threefold, something for their body, mind and soul. I LOVED that idea. Instead of making tons of little goals that I will undoubtedly feel overwhelmed by or just plain forget, I decided that my goal for 2020 is to get healthy: body, mind and soul.

I’m already kicking off 2020 by working towards a healthier body. I started my third round of Whole30 on January 1^st. This reset will hopefully help me kick my sugar addiction and remember I can make healthier food choices instead of lazy ones (I’m looking at you pizza. I love you, but I can’t have you every. single. day. We need to work on our boundaries if our relationship is going to continue…). And I hope to start exercising (read: hope) and sustaining a healthier lifestyle.

Fun fact: I read over 30 books last year. Not bragging. Ok, maybe a little. I was just surprised by the sheer amount I finished. Look for a blog post as I review my favs coming soon! So this year to keep my mind healthy, I’m going to keep up that reading! And I have a bookshelf full of books that I bought in 2019 and have yet to read (remember the last blog post about follow through?).

Lastly, and probably most important, I want to feed my soul this year. I’m going to be real with you: 2019 had some spiritual highs and lows. I tried to write this section for a while and nothing felt right to say, so I’ll let you know more in a later post.

I’m hoping that with an intention of DO THE WORK that I will persevere in my goal to get healthy in body, mind and soul. As my physical therapist friend says, “Pace it. Don’t race it.”

Now I want to know about you! I’d love to hear what your Word of the Year or intention is for 2020. If you would like to make a bracelet, necklace or keychain to carry with you as a constant reminder, let me know! I would love to help you create it!

Another way to determine an intention for 2020 is to ask yourself a few questions. MyIntent has a box of cards with lots of questions to help discern what your intention or word could be. I found these questions on their website:

Cheers to a new year, a new decade and a new attitude!