It's that time of year, when everyone wants to know what my "word of the year" is. If you've never heard of this practice, never stumbled across #oneword in your travels around the internet, you, well... you probably don't spend as much time traveling around the internet as i do, and that's probably a good thing.
{but seriously, if you don't know about the #oneword challenge, here is one place to get info. or here. or here. heck, chris brogan even recommends you settle on three words for your year (overachiever!) (just kdding!). you get my drift.}
i first started adopting a word of the year in 2009, with the word journey. the following year it was open. in 2012, it was continue, and last year it was now!. (yes, with an exclamation point!)
i am a big fan of the #oneword idea, it's perfect for an ADD brain like mine. my word is my talisman, it helps me to focus my grand dreams into do-able projects. my word helps me get unstuck when my dreams seem paralyzing. my word gives me something to mumble under my breath during a long run when i simply want to stop running.
my word for 2014 is ask.
i hate it.
not the word, mind you. i hate asking for things, in general. it's a stumbling block of mine, both personally and professionally. i hate vulnerabtility. i hate weaknesses. i hate indecision. i hate having to ask. for anything.
so see, there it is. in order to get those things, the success and happiness, the meeting space, the sale, the childcare assistance, the ride, the sponsorship, the promotion. you. must. ask.
and if you are one of those people who have no trouble asking? oh... i envy you.
for me, 2014 will be about the ask. i simply cannot get to the places i want to be (the places where my dreams live) without stopping and asking along the way. so i will get flustered and trip all over my words at least once a day, asking for the things that i need to make my dreams my reality. because if i don't? i will remain paralyzed by my own big, beautiful dreams.
(okay, really, my word of the year is justfuckingdoit. and you can bet that's the word i'll be mumbling under my breath!!)
(also, i cannot type the words "ask me, ask me, ask me" without giving a huge shout out to my sister Patricia, my brother-in-law Adrian, and, basically every single person who attended Northeast Music Camp between 1984 and 1986.)
and i ask you, what is YOUR #oneword?
3 comments:
I HATE asking for things, for help, support, directions, love, and the list goes on. You are a brave soul in my book to choose "ask" as your word. My word is poise. Yoga has been described as a poise of the soul. I want poise in my soul, in my words, in my actions. This will be about as easy for me as it is to ask.
I started doing the "one word" exercise last year. In 2014, my word is kindness. I'm such a competitive person, and that's OK, but I want to work on leaving my interactions in a kind way - so even if I'm trying to make a change, or offer a critique at work, it is done in a kind way.
I am so horribly bad at asking. I tell myself if I figure it out, I learn. If I do it myself, I feel accomplishment . . . but, at the same time, with all of that, my refusal to ask often leads to frustration.
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