For quite a while now, when the calendar pages dwindle to its last few leaves, I've used the quiet of the season to choose a Word of the Year to serve as my personal motto throughout the upcoming year ... When things get hectic, or I feel I've been pulled off course, I can look back at the word I chose (or the one that chose me) and remember how I intended to navigate the months, how I wanted to feel, and in what ways I wanted to move through life. The year of our Lord, two-thousand and nineteen was my
Year of YES, which looked an awful lot like a year of NO. I guess that's what "they" mean by: Saying no to others is oftentimes saying yes to yourself. It wasn't really a me versus them sort of thing, though, it was more about accepting what is for any given moment, and not forcing myself to do anything, or be anyone, or go anywhere that didn't feel right, or healthy. If I was sick, I allowed myself to be sick. If too many opportunities (or those without enough notice) came my way, I declined them. I had no desire to force myself to perform, or say yes to everything for the sake of saying yes. I wasn't interested in pushing my body to do more than it could handle, and likewise I wasn't going to stress myself out by over-committing to projects that would've had countless (unnecessary) deadlines dangling over my head...
As I sat on the floor in front of the fireplace coming up with my word last December, I envisioned my Year of YES going a bit differently, but I am more than comfortable closing out the decade with this vibe.
