2021 Word of the Year

Have you made any goals this year? They can be a pain in the butt. I know that I have often had to wait until after the start of the new year to even figure out any type of goals. I usually am still hanging around in the previous year's lingering feelings and take a fair amount of self-loathing to the page. I do this because I am really critical of myself and because it just feels like my normal after not accomplishing my goals from last year. 

However, in 2020 I was disappointed that of my plans, December had been flushed down the pandemic toilet. I decided to look to the future for some inspiration. So before I reached halfway through December, I thought how I don't want to feel like this again next year, and I was throwing around my word of the year. I have picked a word of the year for a few years now, something to keep me focused. 

Throughout 2020 I had accomplished a lot of self-processing because months and months of alone time will do that to a person. I realized there were a lot of ideas about myself that I didn't create but believed anyway. I had a lot of hang-ups when it came to writing. (I know everyone does.) This was different. The lies in my head were so bad it was blocking every bit of creativity I was suffocating myself when it came to writing. 

Then a dear friend asked me to The Artist's Way again because the first time, I didn't complete it, and while it has taken me longer than the typical 12 weeks, it has been worth it. Chapters of the book changed my mind about writing about how I saw it. After creativity trama in college, it was about damn time. I had a billion stories inside of me that I had been holding back because of the hurtful things I had to endure when I was just starting out. In some ways, I wish this book would have crossed my path 15 years ago. 

However, this is all leading back to my word of the year. It wasn't some quiz I took online, but I was really thinking about what 2020 had been for me. It was a time when I was coming back to myself and finally reading all the stories I had been telling myself. So I thought about balance for this next year, but I have always been a clumsy person. Freedom seemed great, but I felt like I was already free. I realized how many other voices in my head I allowed to get a say, which is why I turned to the word centered. 

2021 is about listening to myself again and seeking out spirituality in ways I haven't allowed myself to explore in the past. It is for me about writing about who I really am and who I want to become after peeling back the layers of lies that well-intentioned people told me. Can I tell you if you go down the road of picking a word, a quote, or phrase for the year, it will be challenged?

I literally was challenged for the first 14 days of January. When I hit day 15, I woke up from my fog, and I got to look at how completely uncentered I was. My life had revolved around an individual who then ghosted me. It was in shock, and I saw my total lack of healthy boundaries. So, lesson one of 2021 was to figure out what boundaries even are and stick to them. 

I'm excited to see where centered takes me after this month. Whatever you have decided to do for the new year, I hope it makes you happy. If for any reason, you think you have missed the boat in goals or a word of the year, you haven't. The best part about life is you get to make up rules about these things to be what you like. Pick a new word for the year if you find the last 28 days haven't felt quite like your word; change the world every six months, every quarter, or month if you like. It's your life. Pick a path and start living it.  

Monday's Mug 24

I am sitting down with my mug of hot chocolate tonight to just share with you a few of my thoughts. First, I would like to say Happy New Year! I am so happy that 2020 is over and we didn’t start 13/1/2020. I felt great on the 1st day of the new year and had a lot of hope for what the future could hold. It was also snowed that day, which was terrific.

But maybe you are not feeling great about 2021 right now, and I know what that is like. For the last 3 years previous years, I have struggled with hope. It was a big reason I took some time off. I knew that if I didn’t work on myself and get through some of this crap, I was never going to be the creative I was meant to be. 

Community 

I started to heal myself was by reaching out to friends who were real friends, and it took me a while to find them. I knew I needed people in my life that would allow me to talk because when I need to process things, I need to talk. 

Many people don’t know how chatty I can be once I start to open up. I had been hiding who I was for so long I needed to be authentically me, not the one with a cloak or done up face. There was no need to perfect, and with that came the ability to cry or laugh or just be random. 

Are any of these people living within a 100-mile radius of me? Nope. I think you can find friends all over the world, but I would stress to be cautious. I am not advising you to be friends with everyone you met online.

YouTube, TikTok, and Books

The second way was working through The Artist Way. I had an accountability partner for the duration of it this time, so I would be sure to finish. I told them what chapter I was on and the parts that were speaking to me.  

I attribute a lot of my success to the morning pages that have transformed themselves and me over time. I continued to read books in the areas I struggled with, like self-discipline.

YouTube is a great place to find motivational speakers like Tony Robbins, Tom Bilyeu, or searching for inspirational videos. TikTok has a lot of great videos as well. Just search for inspired, positive, or affirmations. What these videos can do is give you positivity when you might be surrounded or talking to yourself in a not so lovely way.

Where do I find community?

So as we come into this new year, there are many places to look for the community, especially for writers. Not only are there podcasts, YouTube videos, social media accounts, and tons of positive people on TikTok, there are groups out there forming. 

NaNoWriMo has writing groups all year long.

StoryADay has a community on its website and has a membership that opens at the end of April. 

Stop Writing Alone has Facebook groups and usually hosts a Happy Campers group during Camp NaNo in April.  

The Accident Inspirationalist has a Patreon for the community as well as workshops. 

Let me know if there are any another writing communities you would like me include on my site.

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