Happy New Year 2014 Reason to Celebrate WORD

Typically every year on New Years Day people set out with a list of New Year's Resolutions. We make the list as a traditional nod to Father Time and Baby New Year. For some reason, today there was a theme that seemed very clear.  People were not talking about Resolutions they were talking about Words.

What one Word was going to lead / guide them through the New Year.

Words like Enlighten, Simplify, Patience, Energy, Kindness, Shiny and others were offered up as guiding principles.  This is an interesting new trend for me to see. And it just makes sense because in the beginning was the Word.

But, actually, this is not new to our house. 

Our daughter started this years ago. She loves themes and so instead of setting a New Years Resolutions she sets a Word for the Year, Song for the Year, and sometimes even a hairstyle of the year. One year was "The Year of the Side Ponytail" and yes she rocked it for 365 days. Her song of the year is always the first song she hears after midnight of New Years Eve. Last year it was Cough Syrup. 

The word of the year didn't necessarily need to be one that was uplifting or guiding to a higher principle.  The word of the year when we lived in the Middle East was "Outrage".  When someone would cut us off as we tried to enter a roundabout my daughter would say "That's an outrage" and we would all giggle.  The over use of a single word during the year seemed to be part of the game.  It seemed to me that having a word of the year, any word at all, highlighted the fact that words are important and that words are chosen - a person is in control of the language they use.  

That being said, my word of the year is usually pointed out to me by the people around me because I tend to roll into a "Go To" word to wrap up conversations. Last year my go to word was apparently "Fantastic" My kids told me that since Dr. Who turned 50 last year and I had turned 50 and that the 10th Dr.s word was "Fantastic" they suggested I should possibly consider the 11th Dr.s Go To phrase as my word of the year and that is "Let's Go!". I'm considering it especially since 2014 is the year everything goes Mobile. 

So that is a little glimpse into the way our thoughts work around here.

This blog has always been about reasons to celebrate.  This year, on day one, we celebrate words.  Words that inspire us and guide our actions through the year.

Happy New Year!  Let's Go! 

Word