One Word

There has been a lot of buzz on blogs lately about resolutions and goals. Gee, it must be January. The first page in a fresh, new calendar tends to inspire many of us to make a fresh start, organize our lives, and get things done. With all the holiday hoopla, however, I find it hard to devote the time I'd like to putting things in order and making goals for the coming year. Most people think New Year's Eve is a time to celebrate. They look at you a little funny if you'd rather stay home in your pajamas and sort through the filing cabinet and make lists. I am so not a party girl.

Still, I am finding time here and there to slowly clear out the excess debris in my house, life, and mind and considering what I'd like to do in the coming year. My problem has never been a lack of ideas. It's settling on a manageable few and carrying them through to completion that proves difficult. Yet here I go again. I can make plans and move forward with them, or I can flounder about with no direction getting nothing done and feeling lost and frustrated.

One idea I've seen several of my blog buddies and Facebook friends talking about is something called a one word project. Not remembering if any of them had referenced a specific source, I googled it and found that The Shutter Sisters have one centered around photography. I think there may be other versions out there, but I'd rather just use the general idea and tailor it to my own needs instead of searching the Internet for someone else's rules.

The basic idea is to choose one word that you would like to concentrate on for the next year (or month or however long you choose), and work it in to your daily life. I love the simplicity of this idea. Sure, I will also set more specific goals for myself, but I can work this one general thought or word I want to focus on into those as well. One word, one concept, but it could have the potential to affect every area of your life. I also really like the idea of incorporating photography into the project. I think it will help me to focus on the word I've chosen as well as get back into photography, which is something I've let slip since I started my new job in November.

So, what will be my word for this year? There are so many areas in which I know I need work and words I could choose to go along with them: decide, discipline, focus, onward, forward, upward, move, do, be. (Are you noticing a trend here?) Direction and decision are so tricky for me.

I thought about all of these words, and I realized that any one of them at this point would be enough to overwhelm me. How should I decide what direction to go? Yes, I do believe in a little thing called prayer, and I do practice it, but I'm not sure God tells us every. little. thing. we should do. He gave us a brain and free will, by golly! Shouldn't we use both? Ahem. Anyway.

Then it hit me. No matter what I decide to do with my life--minute by minute or in the grand scheme of things--I want one thing to be my motivation for what I do. That one thing is my word for this year and for the rest of my life, for that matter.

LOVE

In the coming year, I will try to live this word with my every thought and action.

I won't succeed--at least not entirely.

Oh yes, I do have a temper. People are always surprised by this. Most of the time I'm very nice, but I'm telling you, don't cross me. I know I will slip. I'm certain I will cuss and give someone the finger for endangering me and my family by driving like an idiot. Someone in my family or circle of acquaintances is bound to irritate me. My husband will still get an earful occasionally when I get home from a difficult day of dealing with a certain person at work, but I will get it out of my system and remind myself that the reason I stay is because of that one word.

There will be moments when I am cranky and moody and downright unbearable, but I will change my mind. I will remember that love bears all things. Sometimes love lightens the load, and sometimes it makes it seem heavier, but it always makes it bearable because love gives us a reason to continue, to strive to be better than we are.

So, this year I will focus on this one word: LOVE. I will allow love to motivate and inspire me. I will work to make love the basis of my thoughts and actions. And when I screw up (when, not if!), I will lovingly remind myself what it is I'm living for.

Throughout the year this may be a recurring theme here on my blog as I work toward my goal. I'd like to explore the idea of love through reading, writing, photography, art, and music as a way to remind and further inspire myself. I may share some of that here. I hope it will inspire you as well.