2018 Word of the Year: Climb
I have been doing a word of the year for the past four years now. At first, it seemed a little silly. A little self-indulgent. But I will say that picking a word to start of the year has allowed me to put intention behind the things I do during the year.
Before I explain this year’s word, let’s take a look back on previous years. I started the Word of the Year back in 2014. My word for that year was Better. In 2015, I grabbed courage as my word. I was venturing off into new territory and I knew I could need courage to do that. And last year, my word was focus. I had the courage to do new things but I needed the focus to really drive those things home.
Looking back on 2017, I have to say I really did focus. I streamlined some things. Found where I wanted to take myself, both personally and on the blog. I kept my head down. I stayed in my lane. And I focused on me. And you know what? It totally worked. Professionally, 2017 has been my best year ever.
And to carry that over into 2018, I have to do one thing.
Climb.
You don’t get to where you are going by being stagnant. By maintaining. You have to climb. Maybe I’ve been listening to Miley Cyrus a little bit too much but having a song tied to my word helps me keep that word in the front of my mind.
There’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb
Some people like to just keep swimming. But when you’re swimming, you are only going in a straight line. But to climb? You keep going upwards. And sometimes when you reach the top, you realize there’s more to climb. And that’s ok.
Climbing, to me, means always learning. Always doing. If something’s not working, it’s ok to hop of the trail and pick a new one. You can’t be stagnant if you are climbing.
By choosing this word for this year, I am forcing myself to take my focus of last year and apply it to other areas of my life. We all have a mountain we are climbing every day. And just like Miley said, it’s not how fast you get there, or what’s waiting on the other side.
It’s the climb.
It’s what you learned while getting there. It’s what you did to get there.
There are life lessons all around us and by “climbing” we are embracing those lessons. Using them in our daily lives to get us where we want or need to be.
So who’s ready to climb?
