My Word for the Year

For the past several year I have watched as others have selected a word to live their year by.

At first, to be honest, I thought it was kind of hokey. A year to live by? What in the world? I think this may have been because when I first heard of it our son had just been diagnosed with autism and the first word I heard someone going by was “rest”.

Talk about irony.

How does one really rest for an entire year?

As you can see, clearly I had no idea what I was talking about.

Now that I am wiser and a lot older (ahem) I’ve leaned more into the word of the year idea and decided that perhaps that is something that I should follow.

In case you are like me and think it is something you do all year long, let me tell you it is not what you are going to be doing all year long. I mean, I suppose it could be for me it isn’t.

For me, my word will serve as a filter, something that I will think about and sift my actions and habits through to hopefully be better on the other side of 2020.

What is my word you may ask?

My word is….

Health

You see when you think of that word you probably imagine Kale or Body Electric leotards or working out.

And there may be some of that. Well, not the body electric apparel but otherwise there will be some.

But health to me is about much more than my appearance or even my physical health.

For me health includes my physical health, yes, but also my mental healthy, my spiritual health, the health of my marriage, the health of our family, and my families physical health.

This past August and September my husband, Nick, was in the hospital being treated for MRSA. At first it was funny, taking your husband into the hospital for an infection on his leg when the rest of my hunky husband was just fine. But when days later they couldn’t get the infection to stop spreading and you come to the hospital room to find quarantine suits at the door, well, things got quite a bit scarier pretty quickly.

Those months made me realize how delicate life can be and how as my job as wife and mother it is my responsibility to keep my family healthy. And to keep myself healthy so I can continue to take care of them the best I am able to.

I am looking forward to this year as we plan vacations, many business decisions, and watch our children grow. I am using this year as a catalyst to not get bogged down in the every day but to rather take a step back, take a breather and look at things through the lens of good health in an effort to move towards a more constructive lifestyle.

I encourage you to choose a word for the year if you haven’t yet. It’s never too late to choose a word to start thinking about and pondering as you go through your days.

And if you have a word I would love for you to comment on what you have chosen. We can all encourage one another through our journey of 2020!

Happy New Year, friends!