If you build it…
It just dawned on me that it’s nearly June and I never wrote about my Word of the Year for 2024! I was so enthusiastic to get going on all of my big goals that I got completely carried away, and then entirely buried under all the details involved in carrying them out. On top of that, Real Life tends to pop her head up now and then when I least expect it. But the year is not over yet! We haven’t even made it to the halfway point. So here I go, doing my catch-up thing again. It’s all good. Life is twisty, and sometimes messy but we just have to put on our Wellies and a cute rain jacket and march through the storm, right?
My Word of the Year for 2024 is BUILD!
The word “build” whispered in my ear back in October 2023 when I found myself needing to make some big decisions about which projects I would say yes to or no to in the coming year. Our house and yard needed some updating and my website was ready for a refresh. My husband and I were slowly designing a new home for some property we purchased a few years ago, and I wanted to create some new classes to offer in my local community. That was just the beginning! I realized there were many, many things I wanted to build and grow this year.
As soon as I accepted that my word would be build, my list of construction projects quickly grew. Here’s a peek at some of the things I’m building:
A beautiful new home
Stronger muscles
A larger email subscriber list
Three new classes to offer my community
Twelve designs for a calendar
A new online shop
Pickleball skills
My relationship with my daughter in-law
A collection of greeting cards
Blog writing skills
A collection of video art tutorials
A local community of creative friends
My teaching confidence and organization
Feeling exhausted? Ha ha! Me too! But working with a Word of the Year as a guide is not always about completing anything. It’s forward motion that matters. Obviously, I can’t work on “building” everything at once. I try to use the seasons, the weather, and my overall energy to guide me too. I know I have to be prepared for Miss Real Life to show up any moment. That’s called building flexibility! I like to think of it as kind of a game. Now that I’ve worked a bit on building my blog writing skills, I’m heading off to the gym to build some stronger muscles. While I’m lifting weights I will be dreaming up some new designs for greeting cards or thinking through the steps of a new class I want to offer. I’m really enjoying my word!
Be sure to leave a comment and let me know if you chose a Word of the Year for 2024. How’s it working for you so far? How have you applied it to your life? This curious girl wants to know!
