One Word. 365 Days. It’s a new year and we all know what that means…time to refocus and set new goals. If you’ve been following me and my blog for a while, you’re probably familiar with my #OneWord journey.
Here are my words since I began this life approach:
2017 – Confidence
2018 – Simplify
This year, I felt a deep connection to two words. After much prayer, I decided that instead of a single word, my year will be anchored on two words: “Grace” and “Completion”.
One Word – Grace
This is a word that came to me randomly one day while thinking about who I had evolved to become. It occurred to me that I had become jaded in friendships and relationships. Due to the many negative experiences in my past, I had stopped giving people the grace to be human. What does that even mean? To me, this meant I was no longer as forgiving and I had developed a really low tolerance for mistakes. To give up on people so easily seemed completely unfair given the knowledge that I am not a perfect being and I often need grace and forgiveness from others.
Unmerited Favour
When “Grace” is discussed in the bible, it is often explained and understood as unmerited favour1. With this definition in mind, I reflected on the relationships that had left me with scars and wounds. When you’re feeling hurt, it can be harder to shed grace, but this is when you need to be the most grace-giving. Through my reflection, I came to realize that a way to lift the weight of past hurt is to offer grace to others. Grace does not have to mean forgiving the pain and returning to the status quo, rather it can mean that you have chosen to forgive with the understanding that people will mess up and be human but you have changed your perspective and approach to give the room to err.
In 2019, I will give people the grace to be human and release grudges quickly.
One Word – Completion
Being a mom, an entrepreneur and an ambitious woman, it’s very easy for me to leave things unfinished. When I reflected on the past year, I realized that I left a lot of things incomplete, both intentionally and unintentionally. Without knowing it, I had adopted a lifestyle of “almost done” and this is not something I wanted for myself.
As a challenge to myself, I have chosen the word “completion” to help anchor my year. I have challenged myself both to complete the projects I left incomplete in 2018 and to create a monthly timeline. My monthly timeline has one purpose and one purpose only, to ensure that by the last day of every month, I complete ALL open projects.
Through this challenge, I want to encourage myself to only begin things that I can finish within the month, this does not mean avoiding long term goals. Rather, it means, breaking down my long term goals into chunks that can be completed and accounted for on a monthly basis.
In 2019, I will set achievable goals and complete all my set goals and open projects by December 31st.
What is your #OneWord for 2019? We are one month into the year and let’s check in. Have you been living your life by your word(s)? What can you do differently to ensure you stay focused? Come on over to Instagram and let’s chat about your Word.
1 https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/grace/
