Space
An Annual Exercise in Choosing a Word for the Upcoming Year
Each December, I choose a word for the following year, to serve as a north star for intention setting and decision making. It is based on what I need and it is a word that sneaks into my daily vernacular as the year winds down. In 2024 my word was gentle. Following 2023, the year of expansiveness, I needed a soft place to rest and tend to the pain that came with the rapid growth and extension of 2023. I wanted to swaddle myself in only the softest things this year and take 366 days to rest and adjust to the radically different life I had stepped into as 2022 gave way to 2023.
As 2024 unfolded it didn’t feel gentle—in fact it felt like the fabric of the universe might just tear. There is nothing gentle about genocide, war, climate disasters, or the rollback on civil rights. There is no softness in the grind of my knee. There is fear in an aging body. There is heartache in preparing to send a child out into this world. There is so much to grieve. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t be gentle with myself while also standing strong for what I believe in, being a momma-bear sort of nurturer, and doing all I can to take care of my body. I can be gentle-and.
To be gentle-and requires space which is my word for 2025.
It is in the space between thought or feeling that we have the greatest say in what comes next. That space, cultivated through mindfulness and self-awareness is a place of great agency.
Space is what I picture when I think of my joints. I know that’s not what’s going on in there but my imagination insists it’s so. I want to explore the stories in my joints and I want to find more relief for those that ache.
When I look up on cold clear nights as I walk my dog before bed, space and all of its celestial bodies inevitably fills me with awe that I don’t ever want to lose.
The space to choose and the space to move; the space to behold and to wonder. That is what I am going to turn towards in 2025.
How to pick your own Word of The Year
If like me, you are not a resolution sort of person, but you enjoy small rituals to mark the passage of time, picking a word of intention for the next year might speak to you. If so, grab whatever you write with as well as any journal, planner, and calendar you might have kept.
Take a moment to sit and become aware of yourself sitting. Notice where your body makes contact with whatever is below it. When you are ready, review your journal, planner, or digital calendar to remind you of some of the things you experienced in 2024. Reflect on this past year and write a list of what stood out about it (no moments are too small).
Then think about how you want to feel at the end of 2025. Jot that down.
Now, consider what are some ways of being (ie expansive or gentle) that will take you from where you are now to where you want to be? Or what might you need to get there (rest, space, or energy)? Once you have a list of words, pick one that feels the most aligned with your vision for a year from now!
After you have done this exercise, if you feel so inclined, I would love for you to share it with me and the Tender at The Desk and Stove community via the comments!
I love the way you see the world. My word for 2025 is HEAL.
I was thinking about this the other day - my word is “dissonance.” These times feel like constant dissonance embodied and in my mind and spirit, and I’m trying to be intentional in holding space for that tension.