From my early teens to my mid-twenties, I unswervingly entered each new year with a vow to lose weight. I greeted January with a determined mindset, but all the while guilt, shame and punishment dragged behind me from the ‘failure’ of this yet-again repeated resolution, tingeing each fresh new start with negativity. In hindsight, with its harsh winter weather and short, dark days, there’s little need to make January more difficult than it needs to be.
Funnily enough, I changed my mindset following one of the most challenging years. 2020 had put all of us through our paces, and unsurprisingly – following months of WFS (work from sofa, that is) and sourdough – I was at my heaviest. But the struggles of the pandemic had also done a brilliant job of teaching me to see the positives in anything. Instead of dolling out another punishment for myself, I decided to reframe my focus, give myself a little more grace, and join the hoards of people around the world choosing to focus on a word of the year.
For 2021, my word was ‘Nourish’. The year was about self-care; gently nourishing my body with nutrients and kindness, as well as nourishing my skills, interests, relationships and career (and dare I say, soul). I dove into dressmaking, adopted a rescue dog, moved to the countryside and met my biggest career goal, all with this one little word at the back of my mind.
For 2022, it was ‘Gather’. With lockdown restrictions lifting (and our aforementioned rescue dog settling in), I wanted to spend time gathered together with loved ones, forage amongst nature, cook with produce brought in from the garden, gather - read: dust off - my craft supplies and collect special memories. 2022 became the year that I discovered my connection with nature and got to know the rhythms of the seasons.
2023’s has been ‘Grow’. I wanted to enjoy the process and relish being a beginner; spend more time in the garden and learn some floristry skills; step outside of the patterns and instructions I’d been tied to in my hobbies before and grow my creativity. I started this Substack, threw myself into embracing the seasons through craft, grew my confidence in the garden, developed my skills on a week-long floristry course and ended the year with the promise of an allotment to pour myself into in 2024.
It took me a long time to choose the perfect word for 2024. I toyed around with a few but ultimately settled on something that feels reflective of my goals for the next 12 months: ‘Embrace’. May 2024 brings our wedding, and with that I want 2024 to be a year of love, warmth, celebration and affection. Professionally, the publishing world is all change right now, and rather than fight the tide or get stuck on any negative knee-jerk reactions I’m choosing to welcome the change. And most of all, I want to embrace new opportunities… primarily of the floral kind. I can’t wait to see where this year takes me.
If choosing a word over a strict resolution is something that speaks to you, there’s still plenty of time to find something that fits. Consider what your intentions are, what you want to pour your energy into, and what you might have learned from the previous year. Pick something that may challenge you, help with your decision-making or provide clarity as you navigate the months ahead. Perhaps a word will naturally come to you; you might find that intentionally setting a word will help to guide your actions – either way, it’s a comforting thing to store in your back pocket as we enter the new year.
Have you already got a guiding word for 2024? I’d love to hear it if you do! And I promise to keep you updated on how ‘Embrace’ goes for me…
Happy New Year!
Lorna x
Love this idea! I’ve been thinking carefully about my word and decided to go for “grow”. Can’t wait to read more about Embrace this year ❤️