I do this every year. Sometimes I stick to it.

For the past 15 years, I’ve always chosen three words for the new year that embody what I want to focus on. It wasn’t my idea but that of my friend Chris Brogan, and it’s stuck with me ever since.

I suggest you read that link if you’re interested in the methodology of it all… You can do it however you want, but Chris explains it quite well.

So, my problem is that I don’t always stick to it. Because life and stuff. And I have often forgotten my three words for the new year. Or I’d changed them at some point.

But given that we’ve all been thoroughly mentally (and sometimes physically) drained over the past couple of years, I’m kind of bound and determined to try to stick to something for once. Why not get back to the three words for the new year and put my energy into it this time?

My Three Words for The New Year: Create, Relax, Health


Create

I’m really over the whole stagnancy thing. I’m an artist, dammit, and I am happiest when creating something. Be it crafting with words, food, clay, or paint; the result is the same. I. Am. Happier.

It’s important to me to spend time expressing my creativity because it honestly keeps my brain sharp. Maya Angelou basically said that creativity could never be exhausted because it brings about more creativity. So, to create something every day, I’ll fine-tune my imagination and be happier overall.

I honestly don’t know even if I will focus on selling it. Maybe in the form of content creation and passive income and such, but I don’t have it in me to be the creator and the marketer and hold down clients and and and… So we’ll see what I do with what I create. I’m just going to focus on the creating part for now.

Relax

Okay, so after 2022’s health scare stuff (my father’s stroke and my heart attack just four months later), I’ve learned that I need to stop trying always to be “doing” something. It’s more profound than this because I also need to find new ways to relax.

want to relax by cleaning my kitchen. Folding laundry. Decluttering my desk. Doing those things will help me relax because they’re monotonous yet productive. I won’t feel like I’m being lazy, but I won’t be rushing around trying to do it all.

Part of relaxing for me will involve spending more time with people I love when it suits my psyche. If it doesn’t serve me, it doesn’t, and if anyone has a problem with it, I’m really not sorry. I have never once in my life been labeled an introvert, but it’s happened. Sometimes I can’t “people,” and I refuse to allow my anxiety about doing so to take over.

I have no room for more drama, as I’m a mom to a pre-teen, and believe me; there’s plenty there. It’s not about anyone else, it’s totally on me, and unfortunately, everyone else will have to deal.

It's quite possible this one is the most important of my three words for the new year, and it's cliche as hell, but here it goes…

Health

Yeah, yeah… I know what you’re thinking. But I’m dead serious here. I need to take my diabetes and blood pressure meds. I need to eat good, nutritious food. I need to exercise (once my cardiologist clears me up).

need to because I almost left my daughter and husband way too early, and I’ll be damned if I don’t do everything I can to stay upright for another 50 years. So yes, call it a wake-up call. Call it a “resolution.” Call it whatever you like, but know that this 45-year-old is not going down without a fight, and I’m down to create new habits and progress this year.

(I already quit smoking the day of my admission to the ICU, and I’ve taken my meds religiously since. But there’s always more.)

So there you have it, three words for the new year.

My three words for 2023 are set, and I’m confident I’ll stick to them this year in everything I do. I likely won’t do it if it doesn’t align with one of them! Let’s see how this goes… you in?

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *