My Word of the Year 2016: Grace
Stop shaming and start reclaiming. *
Beth Buelow
Today is the start of our work week around here, after the long holiday, so I thought I’d type up the first post for the New Year! Yay! Back to blogging, yes! It’s been a lovely holiday mostly totally away from the computer since before Christmas. We got snow for New Year’s Eve, and it’s still beautiful whiteness outdoors.
Just a few days before Christmas I finally decided to go with the only word that had come to me, a one little word of the year Ali Edward style of course. I read it in an article somewhere and noticed it when I saw it again, repeated in the same way in another blog post that I now can’t remember. But the word is a short and simple one (and so complicated as words can be). It’s Grace.
This word might feel a bit too religious both in English and translated to Swedish (nåd), but it’s the word that came up and stuck with me, so I guess I’m going with it. I found it in a sentence that sounded something like this:
Do your thing, but show yourself grace, and be kind to yourself in the process of moving forward.
Something like that. Probably you’ll find the link to the article in my post Goal Setting for December, but I can’t be bother to track it down. I just know that I thought: Hmm… I really should show myself grace more often. Do I ever do that?
I tend to be hard on myself way too often. I feel like I’ve failed because I am not satisfied with the time I woke up or what I accomplished during a day. I tend to feel stressed that I never ever reach the end of my to-do-list – there is always more things to work on. Things to fix, e-mails I owe people, phone calls I must make ASAP, tables to clean, dishes to do, blog posts to write, and so on. So, I am going to practice the art of giving myself grace this year.
Defining My Word of the Year
Grace is one of those words that can be used in about a million different way, from saying payers to elegance or beauty of form. You can have grace in manner, motion, or action or as an attractive ease and smoothness of movement. So I get to pick and choose what it means to me, and I hope I’m not in too deep when I interpret it to mostly mean this, for myself, this year:
1. a pleasing or attractive quality or endowment.
2. favor or goodwill.
3. a manifestation of favor, esp. by a superior.
4. mercy; clemency; pardon.
5. favor shown in granting a delay or temporary immunity.
Last year my word was WRITE and I consider it an epic fail even though I wrote plenty of articles that I got payed for. I wrote less blog posts here than ever before I think, and I didn’t write on any of my personal projects. The word was more like a strike in the head with a mallet than a gentle nudge to write everyday. I thought it would be helpful, but it wasn’t. It was too demanding, and too difficult to obey. I think it is because it was more of a goal than a guide, and it was not a SMART goal. Neither time specific or measurable, so instead it helped me to feel like a failure. And that is not a good feeling!
So for 2016, grace it is. I hope to bring my Word of the year with me, close to my heart, instead of trying to forget it. What do you think about it? Did you set a word of the year and if so, what do you hope to get out of it?
My Plan with grace
I will not be doing a 365 thing this year either (like the one I did in 2013 with 365 Collages), but I will be working on personal goals, keeping a better schedule and planning out my days. I will keep blogging (I hope at least 3 times each week!) and I will have a goal of making a few collages each week to share on the blog, and as always I will be crafting, photographing, painting and making art so stay tuned! I will be teaching in A Journey Within and updating my Etsy Shop from time to time too.
I think it will be a great, big year, so follow along by subscribing to my Newsletter, via RSS or get blog posts via e-mail, so we can inspire each other this entire year with gusto – and grace.
Happy New Blogging Year!
A happy new Year for you too. Be kind for yourself! That’s how I see the word grace translated for myself. Anny.
Thanks Anny, “be kind to yourself” – yes, that’s a perfect and a bit shorter definition of the word, thanks! Happy New Year to you too!
Tak for et meget inspirerende indlæg. Dine overvejelser om det at sætte sig et mål, er meget spændende. Godt nytår :) !
Thanks yourself Miri, hoppas du får ett kreativit och underbart år du med!
Great word – I hope it helps you along your path this year. Mine is Transform – a biggie for me, but just had a message from Ali in the One Little Word group reminding us that choosing the word is only step one, and as we ‘practice’ we still fall, and that should be expected. So give yourself Grace and kindness as you start this wonderful new journey.
Thanks Lynette, and Transformation is something we all need too – what a great word. I took Ali’s OLW class in 2014 and loved it!
Grace is a wonderful word for the year and to live with grace a wonderful goal. Interesting that you think the word could feel too religious . . . that has never occured to me. My word is Advance. To advance in many directions, to push boundaries, to move further toward my long term goals.
All the best for 2016 Hanna.
Good luck with the advancing Wendy, I’ll cheer you on!
Thanks for leaving me a comment, I guess I thought of Christianity because English is not my first language, and that’s why I sometimes get things mixed up – and also because of the expression “saying grace” at the dinner table for example…
My words for the year are “Health” and “Simplicity”. I love the word Grace and think that we all need to show ourselves a little more grace.
Happy New Year, Hanna!
Deb
Thanks for sharing your words Debi, they are two words to carry close to heart too I think. So glad I use the practice of picking a word – it feels good to have it with me. :-)
I love ‘grace’… it sort of suits you (or is that an odd thing to say, as I know you only from blogging…. ) I picked some ‘wrong’ words in the past that slapped me right in the face, so I’m always a bit afraid when the New Year approaches and I start thinking about a word. NOT having a word is not an option, as I like the ‘focus’ a word gives during the year… for 2016 I choose ‘MOVE” for several reasons: move my body more, get moved and move others with my art and, last but not least, I hope to find a new house and move out of this shitty neigborhood I live in now.
Hello, Hanna, how are you?
I’ve been following your blog since 2013. I was in search of inspiration for a planner who wanted to create (I love create everything with my face, my style!) and just discovering this corner so amazing. Well, I remember when you put, year before last, its word of the year. We have a habit of thinking that we didn’t go far enough in our journeys and saddened with the way not been. However, I can tell you that you are no longer the same in 2015 and even less to 2014 or 2013. And if its word of the year is Grace is because this is the right moment for it in her life. Grace for everything that’s good in you, first, and that is wonderful around you.
My word for 2016 is Change! Don’t chose it, to be honest with you. It came to me in the form of a message from an unknown. And summed up, absolutely, this my new year.
Then, we continue with our words-guides and it inspire us in every moment, in every thought, in every act that we do.
A Happy new year to you, Hanna!
It is a great pleasure to meet you!
A hug from Brazil for you!