What is your final word on 2019?
Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash
I don’t know about you, but I am really over the “end of the year” and “end of the decade” lists. Sure, lots of them are reminders of shared history we experienced, the culture we consumed, and even the food we ate. They give critics an easy piece to write, they give all of us easy fodder to debate, and they give some of us FOMO for things we didn’t do.
When I sat down to think of my top ten lists for the year, I found myself having a difficult time getting down to ten. I mean, I had a ton of amazing experiences, so how can I pick just ten? I listened to hundreds of hours of music, so how can I pick just ten albums? But in the process I did think about what I did this year, what I listened to this year…
…what I learned this year.
And it was a lot. It was a list way longer than just ten things. So how could I choose?
So in the spirit of continuing to simplify my life, rather than writing lists, I have spent my time thinking about how I can reduce the past year to one word that reflects the sum experience of all of those lists, and all of those moments…
a word that represents what life was like for me in 2019.
I did it (and if you want to know what word I chose, just ask). But what I am wondering is, can you do it? Can you identify your final word?
Here is an even harder question: are you satisfied with that word? Was it the word you wished for as the clock struck midnight on December 31, 2018? Is it a word you will share with others when they ask you what kind of year 2019 was for you?
In a few days, 2019 will be in the history books, as will the 2010’s. But the way you think about the past year will help define the next one.
Yes, it’s your final word on 2019, but it's not the final word on you...
it's just the first word you build on in 2020.
Optimistically.
Two final year-end thoughts:
First, the writing bug has been catching on in my house, and my 15 year-old daughter Danielle has also started writing some positive mindset content on her new blog “The Bright Side.” You can find her post about end-of-year reflections and goal-setting HERE.
Second, a note of gratitude. Over 1,000 of you have been on this email list in 2019; and what started out as an experiment has become a real project that I am looking forward to developing in new ways in 2020 (more on that in my next email in January). But if you hadn’t been opening the emails, sending me feedback and sharing new ideas, I don’t think I would have kept going. So thank you.
Happy New Year, and of course, let’s all be optimistic about 2020!