WORD OF THE YEAR | 2020

The time has come to reveal my word of the year!!  I’m going to explain how significant starting the year with a word of intention has been for me.  I’m excited to do it again this year & am hopeful it’ll have the same outcome.

Let’s begin with HOW my word of the year started.  Towards the end of 2018 I had an overwhelming feeling that there needed to be more LOVE spread around the world.  I knew it was the missing piece to so many puzzles & I knew I needed to focus on LOVE more.  When I first posted about this idea to have a word of the year, I wasn’t sure what would happen or if I would be able to keep it at the forefront of my mind for 365 days – but somehow I did.  I truly tried to find love in everything & apply it wherever I could.  Even if that was uncomfortable or vulnerable or unsure – I did my best & went for it.  (I’m still working on telling my nail technician “I love you” like she does to me.)

I cultivated ideas that I’m going to put into action this year, that stemmed from all the work I put in last year – about love.

I do not plan to leave LOVE behind, absolutely not.  I still believe it’s the most important piece to all of our puzzles.  It’s the driving force in everything.  MEDICINE.  I consider love a work in progress & if I notice that the importance of the word starts to slip, I might make it my word of the year again soon.  Who knows!

BUT my 2020 WORD OF THE YEAR?!

FUN.  FUN.  FUN.

Here’s the deal.  The same thing happened at the end of 2019, that happened at the end of 2018.  I started hearing the word “fun” more & seeing it pop up in conversations over and over again.  Until, it stuck & manifested in my mind.  Like a spark, I almost instantly knew FUN had to be my word of the year for 2020.

Now let me try to explain.

Through 2018 and most of 2019 I spent a lot of time working on my health.  I say working because, it was work.  I worked at my appointments, researching foods, reading books, discovering ways to exercise, ect.  If I wasn’t working on my health I was working on my career.  Wafiq & I worked almost every single day of 2019.  Towards the end of the year, I went into a therapist appointment and said “If I get to 90 years old & I look back at my life what will I say or wish?  I’ll be happy it’s almost over because it was a lot of WORK.”

NOW, before you look too closely at that response, know that this was a whole conversation, I’ve worked with my therapist for a long time & she knows me really well.    I check in a lot by asking myself what my 90-year-old self would say.

When I heard myself say “I’d be glad it’s almost over”, I knew I needed to fix something.  My therapist quickly asked me, “what do you do for fun?”  In that moment, I knew what I was missing.  I immediately knew FUN was the missing piece, the part that I needed in order to enjoy this time on earth.  And enjoy it every single day, not just when & if I get to 90 years old.

My brain started thinking about FUN and hasn’t slowed down since.  Like a scientist with a new theory.

I heard another person talk about FUN in the same way.  She was explaining that she’s so focused, isn’t really a people person or interested in happy hours, and that she’s been missing FUN.She was getting wrapped up in her goals & agenda, she was always taking conversations to the serious side, she was struggling to enjoy moments.  As if I needed validation, this was a big sign saying I was on the right track & I wasn’t the only one.

I read, I go to the park, I go shopping – all things I would consider fun.  But then I realized, I could have more fun.  Definitely.  Those types of fun feel very surface level & perhaps are not fulfilling my “fun meter” at all, merely faking fun.

For me in particular, I stopped drinking alcohol so a lot of the things I used to consider fun have been knocked off the list.  How does someone have fun without alcohol?  (I actually have to ask myself that often.)   Then I remember, I was once a child that had an abundant amount of fun.  SO MUCH FUN.  And I didn’t drink alcohol when I was 9 –  So fun must exist.

Now you might be asking WHY?

YOU: “Like duh we all want to have fun, and binge “YOU” on Netflix or go to dinner with my friends so that’s good enough.  What more do you need and why?  I need to focus on my goals, career, and important shit.”

Although I agree with focusing on important shit, I still believe we need more fun, and actually consider that goal just as important.  But not just any kind of fun, genuine fun.  Not just things to mask whatever is going on in our lives or fill the gaps, but intentional fun.  Times of true enjoyment.  And I don’t know about you, but that’s a little tricky to figure out.  Especially in a world where FUN is marketed to us.  Instagram is always showing us what fun is supposed to look like.  But is that even fun? Is that fun for who? me?  Real fun?  Fun is a tricky word.  When we were kids there were limits to fun, you can’t have fun all day.  But as adults, have we completely lost it?

WHICH IS WHY – this is the year to explore FUN.  Figure out how to have true moments of FUN.  Nothing masked or clouded with stress, pressure, or anxiety or things that are supposed to be fun but actually suck.   If you want to explore the word fun with me, I would encourage you to find a few fun moments without alcohol.  See what you come up with & if you can truly enjoy them without the all so glorious genius of alcohol.  (I might not drink alcohol often, but I can appreciate it’s perks.)

As with LOVE, there are some people who have nearly mastered this word.  If you’re one of those people, see how you can share or give fun to others.

So what do you think – FUN?!

Shall we think about it 365 days this year?!  I think we should.

I’ll follow up with some “fun” ideas.  Even small ways to have fun every single day, imagine that?  We had fun every day?  omg.

What do you do for fun?  Let me know & let’s add to the list.  Big & little things, let’s have fun.

Love u

Be thoughtful

Xx

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