Wednesday, January 05, 2011

One Little Word 2011

Image courtesy of Ali Edwards.

This will be my fourth year with the One Little Word project.

I first read about this from Ali Edwards blog. She encouraged me to pick a word that would be a guiding force for the year.

My first word, in 2008, was Create.
I loved that word. For that year, I was ALL about creating. I created new experiences for my baby Kylie. I created a lot of love with Karen. I created a loving home in Portland. I created tons of scrapbook pages. I created lots of knitted projects. It was a fantastic word that truly motivated me throughout the year.

My second word, in 2009, was Choose.
This was an interesting word for me. The thought behind it was that life with Kylie was so encompassing that all lot of other things were starting to slip. Like my health/fitness. Like our finances. Like anything that wasn't Elmo-related. It was easier to go about the day-to-day stuff and not think nor work on the bigger goals. So picking the word "choose" was like a light slap on my cheeks encouraging myself to wake up and start working on my life. I was partly successful. But my memory of the word "choose" was that it wasn't much fun.

My third word, in 2010, was Steer.
"Steer" was "choose" on steroids.
I did steer my family to our new home in FL. I did steer my but to the gym and steered my attention to our budget. But "steer" was heavy in responsibility. It was my least favorite word of all three.

This year's word is Triathlete.
As you may have read, I plan to complete a triathlon in 2012. Trust me, it will take over a year to get myself ready. But I'm very excited about learning to swim and bike and to run even better. I think this is going to be a fantastic and fun word for me. I've found that the more physical fitness training I put into my schedule, the more I have to make the most of each and every day. My stay-at-home mom time management has improved. I'm letting go with the "responsible aka slightly guilt-filled" words of the year and concentrating on a really fun word. Triathlete. Just saying it makes me smile.

You can read more about the One Little Word project here. And for inspiration, you can see Ali's list of words here.

If you've picked a word for the year, please share it with us!

5 comments:

Gia said...

I've actually been doing this since the first time you posted it! Out of all the words I've chosen, I liked Accept from 2 years ago (2009). I picked it after my husband told me he was deploying (again!) I told myself I was going to accept OUR reality and just move forward. I am happy to report, that it worked out for me. I became a more accepting person and in doing so, I’ve also become a happier person as well. This year he deployed again in September, but unfortunately for us, he will not come home. I had a really hard time in America and since then, I've moved back home to France with my 3 year old and soon after moving back, I found out I was expecting. Now I am pregnant and my word for this year is BELIEVE. On my blog I wrote down my list of goals for this year and I wrote: I believe in God, I believe in love, I believe in my family, I believe in miracles, I believe in what is true, I believe in a bright future, I believe the best is yet to come…

Lucy said...

You are one of the coolest bloggers I read! Thanks for sharing :)

A+K said...

After reading your post and another by Hope about the One Little Word Project, I decided to hop on board, too.

My word for 2011 is STRENGTHEN :)

Wendy and Karen said...

Mrs/Mommy--thanks for reading. Thanks for sharing your story about Accept. I hope Believe is a perfect word for you in 2011. Congratulations on your baby-to-be. I hope you keep reading, even from France. Love, Wendy

Wendy and Karen said...

Dear A&K,
Strengthen is an awesome word. Just awesome. Might have to use that one myself for 2012 :) Love, Wendy