One Little Word | 2017 Recap and Plans for 2018

*cue record scratching sound*

I had about a paragraph typed up in here from a draft over the New Year’s weekend but never got around to finishing the post up. Back to the drawing writing board I go!

Honestly, it wasn’t until about a week ago that I really focused on what 2018’s word would be. And I hadn’t given a ton of reflection onto what 2017’s word was until I went back through my archives and remembered what it was. To really get my feet firmly planted in the direction I want to go for 2018, I downloaded the Year Compass to close out 2017 and start brainstorming on 2018. It’s a free download and was worth the time it took to jot down things from my brain.

First, let’s rewind on 2017. I had chosen peace for my word last year without really knowing where I was going with it. The latter portion of 2014 and then 2015 (and parts of 2016) were difficult years for me mentally, and the emotional upheaval of having a baby thrown into our world, and everything surrounding those events, threw everything off kilter. I took a lot of time to process that (and am still processing it) and I watched as 2017 happened and many of the things I read about in getting my head back on straight postpartum kept coming up—the language of it all. It felt like 2017 as a whole was about getting the world/country’s head on straight after the storm of 2016.

Looking back, I know I chose peace to keep working out some of those things from the previous couple of years but it wasn’t until mid year that I began exploring meditation and doing 5 minute increments in the middle of my day as a reset. It didn’t take long for me to feel the mental shift with those 5 minutes and adding in some rough journaling helped as well. I’m a person who will sit and ponder on something for a long time before I can really process it fully and sometimes that is not the best place to be in, stuck in your head.

I kept with the meditation for several months but autumn came and I slipped a bit. It’s time to revive those 5 minute sits and do some more random writing. Every word and every year is just one small layer adding to the bigger picture of a more whole and better person.

As as said, my word for 2018 didn’t come to me until last week. I settled on strong. I’ve written here about getting back into fitness after having Forest and while there have been several instances of some consistency and progress, I’ve never been able to keep that balance going. Frankly, I know it is because I try to do too much and have always wanted to do all the things. Another aspect is that I haven’t figured out what works best for me. Well, long distance hiking works but that’s not feasible, right? Something else I tend to do is think I need to be doing something one particular way for it to “work” but I’m realizing that doesn’t work for me so why was I thinking this? I enjoy what I enjoy and the best thing for me to do is actually be consistent. I can’t keep doing this in fits and starts.

Strong body, strong mind, strong life…that’s where I’m going with for 2018.

I went back to find my first post about One Little Word from after I switched to WordPress for blogging. I’m really laughing at some of those intentions because a few I feel as if I could be writing about today. Except, I’ve come to accept that I am an aspirational runner—I like the idea of running and I enjoy a short 1-3 mile run, but I am probably never going to be running long distances or doing any races. It’s just not me and I accept that now. I get a kick out of the fact that I was off Facebook at that time, too! I just permanently deleted it a few weeks ago. It felt really good to do that. More letters, emails, and texts to friends this year—which is easier said than done. I usually have no problems being the one to reach out, it is everyone else. If it doesn’t happen on Facebook it doesn’t happen anywhere else and that’s so frustrating to me.

2018 will be 10 years since we went to Bolivia, my niece Ashleigh would have turned 8 years old, and it will be 8 years since we thru-hiked the AT. It’s also my 20 year high school reunion—unless they consider Facebook reunion enough for everyone and I won’t have to deal with that. Oh, it’s also mid-term elections at the end of the year which means we need to do some state flipping to blue! Already at the tail-end of another decade—time moves quickly.

With that, what is your word for the year? Or maybe you are doing intentions—share them with me!

Happy New Year everyone!