With Christmas days away we’re all secretly asking ourselves, “What are you going to do differently in 2021?” This year instead of setting a New Year’s resolution, I want to encourage you to pick a 2021 word of the year instead. Why? How many New Year’s resolutions have you set for yourself, that ended with you forgetting about? How many times have you felt discouraged and defeated because of the forgotten resolution? Don’t worry it’s happened to the best of us, but this year it doesn’t have too.
We should be stepping out of one year into the next feeling like we’ve made life changes, and feeling like we’ve accomplished what we intended. 2020 definitely brought on a lot shanaigens, life changes some good and some heart breaking, but without the pandemic some might have never happened. Anyways, I could go on and on about 2020 but it’s almost over with and we shouldn’t being going backwards. . . right? So let’s kick off 2021 with a word not a resolution. But what is a word of the year?
What is a word of the year?
A word of the year is your constant—yet gentle—reminder to focus on creating positive change. The word you choose will be your focus and guidance for the upcoming new year and for all your goals. Use your 2021 word of the year to keep you focused, and to help guide your decisions to move toward your goals. The first step to manifesting anything you desire is awareness and intention.
Choosing your 2021 word of the year
- Make a list of some of the things you want to focus on this year.
- From that list determine the common theme[s].
- List some single words that would work with the theme[s] you see.
- Decide which of the words on your list will be the MOST motivating.
- Now from your list of most motivating words, pick one.
Remember that your 2021 word for the year is a single word that encapsulates what you need more of, what you want to focus on, or what you need to improve.
Last year I picked the word, Hope. I wasn’t searching for Hope for something in general, I wanted to learn to place my Hope in the Lord. My first year of using a word of the year method, I picked gratitude. This was an advantageous word for me. Although I was very grateful for all I have, I realized I wasn’t remembering the little things. It helped me learn to be grateful for the littlest of things, even when the situation was a mess, there is always something to be grateful for.
This year’s list started off pretty big, but I’ve gotten it down to 6 words. They are Fruitful, Contentment, Simplify, Positivity, Discipline, Faithful. Now from this list, I need to determine which one is more important to me and pick it. This list will go into my war binder – faith planner for 2021 as a reminder of all things I want to work on.
Ideas for 2021 Word of the Year
Self Care Words
- Balance
- Simplicity
- Growth
- Better
- Deliberate
- Better
- Enough
- Own It
- Stressless
Grow in Faith Words
- Faithful
- Gratitude
- Grace
- Pray
- Joy
- Rooted
Healthier Body and Mind
- Weight-losss
- Exercise
- Mindfulness
- Challenge
- Driven
- Transform
This is just a very small list of ideas to help get you on the right track. For me this past year has been a world wind of changes, and growth. I’ve learnt so much not only about myself, but of family members too. Many of the things we’ve all experienced this year, will be setting the stage for what we want for 2021. I guess that’s a plus, but I often wonder why it took a pandemic for me to see some of the things I’ve seen.
Ways to incorporate your Word of the Year daily
There are so many ways to incorporate your 2021 word of the year into your daily habits. Below are of some of the ways I’ve used my word of the year.
- Bible Journaling & Study: write down scriptures that focuses on your word.
- Life Journaling: write and get creative about your word.
- Vision Boards
- War Binder – Faith Planner – Daily Planner: put your word on your planner dashboard, create page that you write thing centered around your word, use your word as a focus point.
Every year I create a new Faith Planner – War Binder and my focus for the entire year is centered around my word. I picked gratitude one year, and I set up a daily page to write why I was grateful for that day. There were also several scriptures reminding why I needed to be grateful, etc. In the image below you can see one of my word of the year daily tag bundle I created. It was such a growth tool for my walk with the Lord. I honestly can’t express how much using a word of the year has helped me. Try it and see for yourself, you’ll never go back to using a resolution.
Final Thoughts
Picking a word of the year instead of a resolution has worked great for me. It’s feels less rigid, instructive, and rule like. Resolutions can be broken leaving you feeling defeated. A word can’t be broken, it can be inspiring, it’s a little guiding light, and you can expand on it.
There are many people out there that use the word of the year method. They use it for their faith walk, daily focus, yearly goals, in their creative writing, journaling, and so much more. My hopes are that you’ve come to an understanding of what a word of the year is, and that you’ll test out this method for 2021.
Faith Crafts & Pretty Things can be found on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Etsy, and YouTube. Be on the lookout for my 2021 Word of the Year page, and War Binder set up.
May your new year be filled with joy, happiness, growth, and healing for all that 2020 may have brought you. May all the good habits you’ve created during 2020 stick with you, and your hurts be healed.
Many Blessings
<3 Debbie