Journal

Word of the Year 2021

Normally it takes me ages to decide on a word to take me through the year.

I will begin the search in mid December - writing lists, walking, meditating, perhaps going through a little course like Susannah Conway's - and then sometime over the Festive period, often on Hogmanay itself, a word will settle out of my sifting thoughts. A word whose particular meaning resonates with what I want to bring into my life.

The word I picked for 2020 was 'soar'. The image of the buzzard that roosts by the Studio was in my mind - soaring high against the blue, free and easy.

Mine was not a 'girl boss' version of soaring, it wasn't full of ambition or striving, I wasn't standing in front of the bathroom mirror proclaiming 'I will soar'.

Rather it was a 'riding the thermals' interpretation. Soar for me was a 'take it easy' word.

Soar turned out to be the perfect word to carry me through this weird and rootless year - a reminder that taking the easiest path, going with the flow, is often most effective. A reminder that doing less and being intentional is often the right thing. It helped me accept a lot of things that I would normally have railed against in a very exhausting way. It helped me develop patience - the buzzard will wait and watch for the moment to launch himself into the air. It gave me a measure of trust.

But now - as I begin to feel hopeful for 2021 - I find my word for the year is already here. I don't need to go searching for it. It has moved into my brain and made itself at home.

My word for 2021 is Enough. Enough for me means

• Deciding what is enough in my business, my life, my plans, my income and letting that free me from the feeling of never being done.
• Recognising that I am enough as I am. My body, my mind, my health - all enough, exactly as they are now, not as I wish they were.
• Drawing a line and saying that I have had enough - enough of corruption and cronyism, enough of the way we treat people and our fellow beings, enough of the 'this is just the way it is' assumptions. Enough. (And then it means doing something to improve things.)

I would love to know in the comments if you choose a word and, if so, what difference you have found it makes.