Because it has to!
I thought choosing my Word of the Year for 2026 would feel easier, clarifying even with my word of 2025 working out so well–COMPLETE.
Well, truthfully, it was my word for 2024 because, as you can guess, I didn’t COMPLETE it.
Instead, trying to choose my word feels… revealing.
I keep bouncing around words in my head that still keep asking me to step even more forward, and not pull back or chill for a second.
None of my words are about becoming someone new—I like to adjust and edit as I go along now that I’m solidly in my Big Age. But they seem lockstep in fully standing in what’s already mine. Or been mine, and maybe I didn’t know it.
What I know for sure:
- I don’t want a word ingrained in negativity or lack—that feels like going backwards and closed off.
- I’ve never wanted something passive or too broad like peace. Yes, of course I want peace, always. But my life isn’t chock-full of chaos, some but not all, so it doesn’t quite fit me, right here, right now.
- And I want a word that requires responsibility and action from me, not just reflection. When I see my word, it has to push me forward. Remind me of my commitment and constantly confirm if I’m doing it.
I put my word up on one of those pin boards on a stand in my she-shed office. A la my featured image.
The options on my list, now reduced to five, feel like a mirror. Some feel bold. Some a little vulnerable. One, in particular, keeps asking more of me than I’m ready to admit. Maybe that can be for 2027… or 2037.
But all of this just screams that I know I’m close.
I’ll share the full shortlist of 5 later this week—but I’m curious:
Do you have a word of the year?
Do you choose words that feel safe, doable, or challenging? The ones that kick your bum to make you show up differently?
