It’s that time again! I new year means a new Word of the Year. For some folks, it’s time for Resolutions. But resolutions fail. You don’t need to flip a page on a calendar to start a new habit. You do it when the time is right. A Word of the Year, on the other hand, sums up the entire 365 (or 366) days of that calendar. You literally cannot fail.
What is a Word of the Year
Exactly what it sounds like. It is a word that you choose to dedicate your self reflection to for the year. It’t not a resolution. It’s not even a goal (you know how much I love goals). Good goals can be measured, but the glory of a WOTY is it’s about your mindset. It’s not about reaching a measurable goal that can be reached one day.
A Word of the Year is about setting a focus for the entire year. Will you feel connected to your Word every day? Of course not. But the WOTY is there to remind us of our greater intent. It’s an opportunity to grow. (Actually, Grow is a great WOTY choice!)
Benefits of Choosing a Word of the Year
- It keeps you focused on your overall growth as a person, not a specific qualitative achievement. Instead of feeling discouraged when you don’t reach a resolution, you can constantly reflect on your word.
- There’s no way to fail at your WOTY.
- You get to choose your own interpretation.
Past Words of the Year:
Although I’ve chosen a WOTY for many years, I lost track of them from before my blogging revival. For that reason, I like to include my past words of the year in each new year’s post.
- 2016: Clarity
- 2017: Non-Complacent
- 2018: Monetize
- 2019: Execute
- 2020: Push
- 2021: Rise
Of course you can check out my past blog posts as well, if you want to read about why I chose my 2020 Word of the Year and my 2021 Word of the Year. Both of those posts also include some WOTY ideas for you to choose from as well!
Twenty-Two Word of the Year Suggestions for 2022
While brainstorming words for my own WOTY, I thought of so many great Word of the Year suggestions. I tried not to recycle any words that I had listed in the past. Each of these words are special to me, and could be my own WOTY. They are listed here with divine hope that one of y’all are inspired and choose one for your own Word of the Year. And yes, I know how to count, but I originally wasn’t going to include the two words I was caught between, and decided to add them in for bonus options in the end. Oh well. Twenty-two, twenty-four… close enough.
- Abundance
- Appreciate
- Anchor
- Boundaries
- Commit
- Create
- Energy
- Enough
- Forgive
- Gentle
- Intuition
- Manifest
- Navigate
- Pause
- Perspective
- Quiet
- Reflect
- Smile
- Shift
- Today
- Transition
- Unconditional
- Valid
- Wild
My Word of the Year 2022
So which word did I choose to focus on this year? I sent this list to my friends on Snapchat, and also put up a poll on Instagram with a few of my favorites, and the answer was clear. Both of these sources yielded the same answer.
Shift.
My top two word of the year options were between Navigate and Shift, which are actually very similar in meaning. Both are a change of course as a response to something in the course of your future. I was drawn to Navigate because I wanted to be proactive towards those obstacles and change my course before I was impacted. But realistically, this isn’t the case. And personally, I tend to freeze when things don’t go according to plan. Shift is a better WOTY for me because it’s about changing course after life throws the obstacle in your way to try and stop you from succeeding. We shift our course and keep moving forward.
So now tell me… What is your Word of the Year for 2022?
