As 2015 wrapped up, I took time to consider myself, not in a critical way but in an honest way. How was I? Where was I going? Did I want to be going there? Etc.
Every year for the last five or six, I’ve done this and then used it to set an intention for my next year. I like this better than weight loss goals and bucket lists. I figure if I set a healthy intention as to how I am to be, then the what, when, how, and where will fall into place.
One year my word was balance, another year it was stirring.
Last year it was :
Steady [sted-ee]
- firmly placed or fixed; stable in position or equilibrium
- even or regular in movement
- firm; unfaltering
Steadiness. Unmovable. Habitual. Constant.
And in indeed, this word served me well through 2015. It was constant, habitual training that got me through my first Ironman 70.3. It was steadiness that helped me weather the hard school days and hard training schedule.
It was regular movement that got our family to the tops of many summits and on many backpacking trips. It was consistently setting aside the phone and email to truly enjoy being in Lake Tahoe for a month.
As I glanced back at all these amazing moments that made up our last year, I realized something. It wasn’t necessarily the where or the when of the moment that made it significant. Rather, it was the fact that I was fully present in those moments.
Which led me to my word for 2016:
Present -adjective
1. being, existing, or occurring at this time or now; current:
being with one or others or in the specified or understood place:
2.being here:
3.existing or occurring in a place, thing, combination, or the like:
4.being actually here or under consideration:
Now more than ever, it is difficult to be fully present in the day-to-day. Social media alone allows us to skip to our friend’s baby shower, then onto a wedding, visit a mountain top, and ski in Alaska, all while sitting down for dinner with our kids.
In fact, my own mind is so used to the constant barrage of going via other people’s new feeds, that I find myself resisting the quiet and “boredom” that comes by not doing it.
I am quite sure at the end of my life, I won’t look back and wish I’d spent more time obsessing over the lives of those I hardly know. Not to be rude. I am daily inspired by the online community but I want to remember that my real community, the ones I am really living life with are just that: the ones I am really living life with. 🙂
I want to be fully here with them and there with them and climbing with them and reading with them and lounging around on the sofa with them, etc.
So here’s to another adventure packed year. And a year of pursuing being present and letting go of worry, distraction and busyness.
What is your word for 2016?
