Calm & Collected (one): Find a Word of the Year

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.

What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.

TS Eliot – Little Gidding

I was scrolling through Instagram this morning and came across this quote (thanks for the inspiration  Melisa @coffeepaperyarn) and it just summed up all I’d been thinking about this week’s Calm & Collected challenge: pick a word of the year.

WHAT?

It sounds like quite an easy task: choose one word to set the tone and define your intentions for the year ahead. However, I found it quite difficult to decide on just one word.

HOW?

Get a pen and paper or your smartphone and start brainstorming – write down your dreams, your priorities, your vision for the year. It could be related to work life, or family life, your creative life or all of the above: just try to capture the mood you want to set for the next 12 months. If it’s not coming together very easily, try leaving your notes for an hour  and going for a walk or even leave it all to brew over night. Come back to your notes with fresh eyes and see what jumps out at you. If writing it out isn’t working, try  a mood board and see if you that will help you capture the feeling you want to hold onto in the coming year. That might help the magic word to appear. (Carol at Muff and Teacake has written a lovely post on making vision boards).

WHY?

We all know how easily new year’s resolutions are made and then broken. This will be about the 16th year in a row I have written ‘write novel’ at the top of my yearly to-do list. Ahem. But I like this little exercise because having one word gives you a small talisman to keep coming back to when you’re being buffeted by the craziness of the daily grind. If you feel you’ve lost direction or you don’t know which way to jump, think about this word and see if it helps you find your way.

OVER TO YOU…

What do you think of this idea? Will you try it? And if you were wondering, my word for the year is ‘focus’. It speaks to me of being intentional (and organised) about my work this year and not getting sidetracked with the all usual trivia. Focus also represents the opposite of that distracted state I often find myself in – usually with my iPhone in my hand.

If you’d like, do share your word in the comments below or perhaps stick it on Instagram – it might even inspire a photograph to go with it. You can always use the #calm_collected_project hashtag on your Instagram photo and tag @bexjenkins so we can find each other’s musings.

Good luck!

Bex x

This is the first Calm & Collected challenge for 2016. I’ll be posting a challenge, idea or reflection weekly to inspire and motivate to make the time to create. Missed a week? Visit the Calm & Collected page for all the challenges.