Word of the Year

How to make your New Year’s Resolutions doable!

I have never been one to do New Year’s resolutions, as the word “resolution” always seemed intimidating to me, and it felt daunting to make a list of goals for myself at the beginning of the year, already putting pressure on myself to “do better”. While I am a very goal-driven individual, I felt like starting my year off with things I wanted to change (mostly bad habits), had a negative tone to it, and for anyone that knows me, I am anything but negative.

I had the year of my life last year. I overcame a lot, grew an incredible amount as a person, and really honed in on how I wanted to show up in my everyday life. That being said, I wanted to hit the ground running this new year, as I felt extremely motivated from the year before.

I always found vision boards to be inspirational, and honestly aesthetically pleasing, but whenever I would make one, I didn’t really know where to start. This year, I made a vision board with a group of friends, and one of them encouraged me to have a word of the year, to set the theme for my vision board. 

Discipline. That is the word I chose to set the tone for 2024, and I repeat it to myself daily. Choosing a specific word, and aligning my decisions with that word has felt far more manageable to me, than solidifying a list of goals to accomplish. I know we are only one month into the new year, but my word of the year has already set the tone and been a major motivator for me in my day-to-day life. 

For anyone feeling overwhelmed by New Year’s resolutions, a word of the year, or even a word of the month, might feel more manageable :) 

Shea Amick, LSW.