Word Of The Year: 2021

Y’all. It is 2021! TWENTY TWENTY ONE. I know we are all glad to put 2020 in the rearview mirror and move forward! We’ve got a little tradition around the club that takes place around the first of every year….it is time for said tradition…announcing our word/phrase to focus the new year around.

My 2020 was supposed to be focused around “pursue” and my pursing my goals in my personal & professional life. I am not calling 2020 a total failure –other than my weight–I wanted to pursue weight loss and ended up gaining weight thanks to a dumb liver and steroids. BUT, 2020 is gone and there isn’t much I can do to change how it all went so let’s move along to the present. 2021.

This year I chose the phrase “Less is more.” While I don’t want to be one of those extremist minamilists, I do want to scale back in every area of my life. My life is chaotic, messy, and overflowing. When I was thinking of what my word or phrase would be, I kept coming back to how overwhelmed I have been getting with the amount of stuff everywhere and I am not just talking about physical items, I am talking about the excess thoughts in my brain, the excess tasks on my to-do list, the excess time I spend on less than fulfilling things. I just want LESS. Less stress. Less stuff to clean up. Less to-do. Less wasted time. I want more happiness. more money. more smiles. more meaningful time with friends and family. I want less so I feel more.

Some people are emotional eaters. I am an emotional shopper. Shopping and scoring deals is like a high for me. I show love by buying gifts. I will impulsively purchase cute shoes, bags, and clothes that I am not actually in love with once I own them. I think my USPS, Fedex, UPS, & Amazon delivery folks all know me by name. It is a problem. Thankfully, I am not so deep that I have shopped us into any kind of debt. BUT, I have shopped myself into unhappiness…because the stuff is everywhere. My closet is full of clothes & shoes I don’t want to wear. My favorite leggings that I have long forgotten about are burried in a drawer under 10 pairs of athletic leggings. Doing laudry for my crew is overwhelming because I never seem to get to the bottom of the laundry hamper. It is too much. I am going to by less in 2021.

I struggle with not wanting people to be mad at me. In turn, I end up over-extending myself because I don’t turn anyone down. I over-commit to others thus committing myself to frustration. I have got to know my limits and take on less in 2021. It will be really hard at first, but I am hoping I can do a better job of only committing to the things that I can handle without over extending myself.

I feel like I live in a world clouded by stress. I stress about stressing. Seriously. I can’t do this any longer. It isn’t healthy and it’s causing issues within my body -mentally & physically. I am Type A to a fault, and I know that won’t ever change, but I plan on stressing less and doing more. Rather than stressing about my weight, I plan on doing something about. Rather than stressing about my health, I plan on doing more for it. Basically, stress is getting me no where. Doing more is the only way to see progress and results. Less stress. More doing.

Lastly, I want to less focus on bigger and “better” and more time giving thanks for my beautiful reality. I have fallen into the social media trap of everyone’s picture perfect highlight reel. I’ve spent too much time focusing on making things “better” and not nearly enough time being thankful for what I actually have. I am blessed beyond measure and I plan on spending less time wanting more and more time appreciating my reality.

So, 2021: Less is more!

What is your 2021 word or phrase?