For the past 3 years, I have chosen one word to guide, inspire, and remind me of how I want to move through the upcoming year.

Shout out to my friend Tara’s sister, Ramona, who introduced me to this practice. I was skeptical at first because I am not a “new year’s resolutions person,” but I have found choosing a word for the year to be both grounding and energizing. And it has been neat to notice how my previously chosen words (intention, create, reflect, and celebrate) are still with me. They started as intentions for a single year and are now integrated into my life and how I choose to show up.

In my last post, I looked back on my 2021 words, reflect and celebrate. This post is all about my word for 2022… movement.

MOVEMENT is a reminder for me to stay active. I would classify myself as an intermittently-active person. When I choose to be active, I am very consistently active. And when I’m in a non-active phase, I am very consistent with that too.

This past summer, I was excited and grateful to find an activity that put me into consistently active mode. I loved Rumble Boxing after my first class. I loved it so much that I started going everyday, I signed up for a 30-day challenge after I had just completed 15 days in a row, and I bought a personal training package (PS. this is not an ad for Rumble Boxing but if you want to know more, I’d be happy to chat about it). Going to boxing everyday and sweating it out put me back on a fitness path, helped me to feel strong, provided a stress outlet, and gave me a reason to get out of the house. 

And then I hurt my knee (Note to self: you are 50. You cannot workout everyday without taking the time to stretch or you will injure yourself). My injury took me away from daily boxing. And then COVID restrictions came in and shut down gyms. With those events, my mindset started to shift from all of the things I was able to do to all of the things I was no longer able to do. I hit the on-switch for non-active mode.

My rational brain knows that these are excuses. Boxing may be temporarily off the table, but there are many other ways that I can stay active. Choosing movement as my word for 2022 is a reminder for me to reject the excuses and to physically move.

MOVEMENT is a prompt for me to not stand still for too long. Sometimes I feel stuck. Sometimes I feel bored. And sometimes I don’t have the motivation to act. I have often blamed this feeling of inertia on external factors like having cancer, being in a pandemic, having a sore knee, an obligation to my employer, etc. And while those factors are impactful, they are not the real reason for my stagnation. The real reason is me.

To counter that, I would like to be better at noticing when I’m stuck and then finding ways to move out of that feeling faster. I would like to be better at accepting uncertainty and finding ways to live with it. I would like to be better at seeing opportunities and moving towards them. I would like to be better at appreciating the time that I have. Choosing movement as my word for 2022 is a prompt for me to notice and to take action.

MOVEMENT is a reminder that life is not a linear journey. I’ve never been a formal goal-setter but I do like having something (a vision or a north star) to move towards. At the same time, I know that living life is not necessarily about reaching an end state or outcome. My life is about the journey and all of the direction changes (forwards, backwards, sideways) that come with it. This year, I want to be better at noticing and celebrating these direction changes as indications of progress. Choosing movement as my word for 2022 will help to ground me in this.

What practices guide and inspire you throughout the year? Do you have a word for 2022?