One Little Word 2018

I hadn't given any thought to choosing a word for 2018.

I was starting to see posts pop up on social media and I watched the official launch of Ali Edward's One Little Word workshop but it wasn't resonating with me and I wasn't interested in forcing something. Last year I had the grand idea to choose one word each week...which was indeed a wonderful idea until about March. At which point it became a chore and I stopped even looking at the list of 52 words I had previously chosen. 

A little over a week ago I was journalling at the end of the day and thinking about words and it occurred to me that 'magic' should be my word for 2018. My first reaction was more of a 'Ugh, again, I don't want to pick a word.' than excitement but I let my subconscious mull it over and before I knew what I was doing I was browsing 'magic' and 'magical' quotes on Pinterest. 

This is definitely a scenario of my word finding me versus me choosing a word. And I'm still a little bewildered about what I'm supposed to do with the word 'magic'. In a lot of ways it seems like a juvenile word conjuring up images of unicorns and rainbows or on the opposite end something dark and scary. I'm much closer to the unicorn end of the spectrum but I'm not about to redecorate everything pink and I'm also not going to start consulting a psychic. I'm left shrugging my shoulders and actively deciding to go with the flow.

I'm not going to do the Ali Edward's workshop and I probably won't actively incorporate it into  my Project Life album on a regular basis. I'm anticipating documenting most of my word in my art journal with doodles and collages and whatever I feel like doing, whenever I feel like doing it - maybe it will be weekly, maybe it will be every few months the one certainty is that I'm not attaching any rules to the process. 

Are you embracing a specific word for 2018?  I'd love to know your word and how you're planning to interact with it over the year!

Word of the Week January

If you've been reading around here for awhile than you probably already know about my 2017 system of 'Words of the Week'. If you're new around here I'll get you up to speed. Instead of choosing One Little Word for the year, I chose 52 words. One for every week of the year. When I decided to use this strategy I didn't really know what it was going to look like and even a month in it's still evolving.

I choose my word (from this list) on Saturday or Sunday. I don't have any particular strategy for choosing a word. I pick whatever one happens to be speaking to me or a word that I think might relate to the week ahead. Then I search for a quote to go along with that word. It's a simple way of reflecting on the words and figuring out how I want to focus on it for that week.

I write my word and quote in the sidebar of my planner so that I see it everyday. 

For the first week of the year I choose the word abide and a quote that reminded me that when things are confusing and uncertain faith remains. And abiding in that faith that things will improve or work out the way they are supposed to is the best way for me to handle the unknown. It ended up being good motivation to take a few leaps and trust where I felt God was leading me. It was a good way to start the year. 

Thanks to some of those leaps I chose flow as my word for the second week of the year. As in, go with the flow. Little did I know that just when I thought I had a plan for how things were going to go I was an offered an interview with an organization that I had applied for weeks ago and wasn't expecting to hear anything from. And so plans sort of changed but I went with the flow. It was the perfect word for the week and even though I didn't have any particular reason to choose it 'flow' was exactly the thing I need to focus on that week. 

Last week I chose spark. I thought it would be a fun word for my birthday week because I associate sparks with candles and the beginning of something. It ended up being the word I connected with the least. I'm not sure if it was because I had other things going on that week but I wasn't feeling it. Possibly one of the best things about this Word of the Week strategy is the ability to let go of a word when you're not connecting to it the way you had hoped.

This week I'm embracing joy. This was a very conscious choice because I'm expecting to hear back about that job interview this week. And regardless of the outcome I want to choose joy. There's not a lot of excitement happening in my life right now and it's impossible to make plans when I'm never entirely sure if there will be an interview (or a job) around the corner. So my focus is choosing to find joy in all circumstances. Just because the situation may not be joyful, doesn't mean there's not joy in there somewhere. 

Originally I had thought about making a 6x8 album to document my words but I realized that wasn't something I wanted to commit to doing all year. So for now my words are documented in my planner and in my journal. I'm not really creating any rules around my words, I might continue to choose a quote for the week but I might not. My only requirement for myself is to choose a word for the week. So far I haven't wanted to carry on a word from one week to the next but I'm not ruling out the possibility of that happening. 

If you chose a word for the year are you sticking with it or has the initial enthusiasm wore off?

Word of the Week (52 in 52 2017)

Last night I was in the middle of creating a 52 in 52 list and I stalled. I had been struggling with the darn thing all week and wasn't getting anywhere. Nothing seemed new or exciting, it was quickly become a list comprised of the same things I did last year and some things that I didn't actually have any interest in doing. In other words I was wasting my time.

And then I had an 'Ah-Ha' moment. 

I'd already decided that the official One Little Word class wasn't for me but was still toying with the idea of picking a word and letting it lead me but there wasn't really one word sticking out to me. So I'm not choosing a word. I'm choosing 52. Conceivably, one for each week of the year. Or maybe I'll choose 4-5 each month. Either way, I'm excited. 

I'm still working on what exactly this will look like but right now I am planning on choosing a word each Sunday and incorporating it into my week. I'm thinking I will either use a Smash book or 8x6 Project Life album from my stash to document my words. Maybe I won't get through all 52 words, maybe there will be a couple that stick around a little longer or I'll revisit them as life dictates. I'm not going to use the words in any particular order, just whatever seems appropriate for the week. 

My words came to me pretty quickly, a few quick thesaurus searches but it took me less than 30 minutes to create this list. And have I mentioned yet I'm really excited about this plan?

1. Abide
2. And
3. Balance
4. Be
5. Bless
6. Begin
7. Clear
8. Do
9. Devote
10. Detail
11. Engage
12. Explore
13. Firm
14. Faith
15. Flow
16. Grace
17. Grow
18. Honour
19. Humble
20. Intention
21. Intrepid
22. Joy
23. Know
24. Kindness
25. Light
26. Little
27. Might/Mighty
28. Peace
29. Prayer
30. Plant
31. Psalm
32. Praise
33. Preserve
34. Produce
35. Play
36. Quiet
37. Reduce
38. Refresh
39. Relax
40. Ripple
41. Remember
42. Renew
43. Still
44. Savour
45. Soften
46. Spark
47. Shine
48. See
49. Selah
50. Thrive
51. Whole
52. Well

What do you think? Am I in over my head? Have you used any of these words as your One Little Word? 

Linking up with Mulling Over My Morning Coffee!