Hollyworld: December 2021

Friday, December 31, 2021

Word of the Year—2022

Every year for a very long time, I've chosen a word for the new year. Words like Thankful, Patience, Stretch, Step, Glee, Hope, Time, Chapter, Stop...

The last few years have been a challenge for all of us. Covid...well, sucks. My family has done all we can do to stay safe. This year, we were finally all together for the holiday. Everyone but our youngest member (who's too young for a shot) got their vaccines and boosters. We all tested before we got together to protect the baby. And it was...loud, chaotic and absolutely wonderful. My word for 2021 was Thankful...and I am that. As I looked around at the people around me, I realized what a perfect word I choose for 2021. But as we look toward the next year, I mulled various words to build 2022 around. I kept coming back to one. That's generally my sign that I've found my word.

So here it is...

Drumroll.

RENEW.

Back to Covid... Despite being in the thick of a surge, there are vaccines, boosters and new therapeutics coming online. Though we limited our family celebration to immediate family, I'm pretty sure that we'll be in a position to have a big, extended family celebration this summer. Our second Christmas in July. We can renew our connections.

We started planning an addition to The Cottage...not just renewing it, but finally getting an indoor plumbing. Oh yeah, I'm fancy! We'd hoped to start it in the fall, but the builder got behind, so we're hoping to start in the spring!

My family, my home...and personally. That's always the biggest part of my Word of the Year.

Personally I plan to renew my personal growth. I want to follow my passions. I've always tried to follow a Family-First mantra. That won't change. But realizing that it's okay to say no...that's always been a challenge. One year my word was Balance. I worked at finding a work-life balance and a personal family-me balance. I'm going to renew those attempts. I'm going to find more time in the studio. I'm loving growing in my craft. I've found a passion for folk art. Playing with traditional glazes and forms...and making them my own. Yep, I want more time with that.

And I plan to renew my attempt at furthering my other Words of the Year.
I want to renew my attempts to be Thankful, to be Patient, to find Glee, to...
Well, you get the idea.
Renew.

By now, you all know I'm a walker. I use my morning walks to...well, I'd say meditate, but that sounds too fancy for what I do. I mull. I think about books I'm writing. I think about goals I'm working on. I think about things I want to work on in the studio. And sometimes I don't think about a thing. I simply take in the beauty that surrounds me and live in that moment. Small moments. In Just One Thing, the heroine had a profound moment with a deer as she walked. Last year, Tallulah and I saw one in the woods as we walked. It froze just beyond the first line of trees. We froze as well and for a moment the three of us were quiet and still together. It sounds so small here, but it was so magical. Moments. I'll renew my attempt to find and recognize those moments next year.

So there it is. My word. Renew. I'll spend the year mulling over it and trying to apply it to my year.

How about you? Have you picked out a Word of the Year in the past? Are you going to try it this year?

Whether you do or don't, I wish you all a wonderful new year. Stay safe, look for those magic moments and I hope you renew all the things in your life that are important to you!

Holly

PS.
I'm so excited that in 2022 I'll be combining my two passions...writing and pottery. Yep, there's a new book coming out. A woman who RENEWS her life, follows her passion, maybe finds a relationship...and definitely finds a dead body. She needs to figure out who dunnit!

You can preorder A View to a Kiln: A Harry's Pottery Mystery, now!