My Word for 2024

The days between Christmas and New Year’s were delightfully (and unexpectedly) slow, gentle, and relaxing. The anticipation of a new year tends to bring up a lot of feelings for me (shocking). All the life that lifed over 365 whole days?!

It’s a lot.

I find that choosing a word helps ground me and gives me a gentle focus for the coming 365 days. Last year, I chose the word “alignment” because I was sick of saying “yes” too often, ignoring my boundaries and people-pleasing.

I started using my word as a mantra of sorts, often questioning whether or not something was aligned with my values, my path, or my energy. Choosing a word helped clarify my intention for the year and kept my sights focused on moving forward.

This year, my word is “nurture” and I’m so excited about her.

I’m moving towards a year of giving myself grace as a beginner and compassion for not knowing everything. I trust that I’m capable of doing the work. But I can’t do any of this if I don’t nurture myself.

My hip injury taught me that there is nothing more precious than the ability to move freely in my body. And while I’m still healing, I’m going to use this time to strength train and swim to build and nurture muscles that will protect me when I’m ready to lace my running shoes back up.

I want to nurture my creative side and start to hone in on my style. I want to be honest with myself. I want to play with different silhouettes and colors. I want to dress like it matters. Because it does, to me.

I want to nurture this blog! I’m proud of the fact that I now have a website to tweak and make entirely my own. But, I’m ready to level up and trust that I’ll figure out my way and my voice by moving ahead consistently and deliberately.

I want to nurture myself. I want to make and eat good food. I want to travel. I want to chase strong. I want to sleep well. Drink less. Go to bed earlier. Stay hydrated. I want to be outside. I want to stop mindlessly scrolling. Get lost in a book.

I’m on a mission to make 2024 the year I move toward allowing more compassion for myself and grace for making mistakes. A year that allows me to nurture the gal inside who has always been pretty quiet, but has always been there.

Cheers!