Choosing a Word That Works With You in 2020

We’re well into a new year (and many are saying it’s a new decade too, but maybe that’s still up for debate?) If you’re still struggling to centre yourself and decide what this year is going to look like for you, this post may be just the right thing for you.

All across social media platforms, people have been sharing what their 2020 is going to look like by sharing their word for the year. Choosing a word for the year has been a longstanding tradition for many, which seems to have replaced New Year’s resolutions – and with good reason, in my opinion.

Choosing a word for the year can be slightly overwhelming, but not for the reasons you might be thinking. 2019 taught me an invaluable lesson about the key ingredient many are lacking when it comes to setting goals that will lead them to their best lives yet. Keep reading to find out!

In 2019 I wanted my word for the year to be “abundance”. It just seemed appropriate when I was picking a word. Turns out, life had other plans for me. Before I could commit to attracting more in my life, I had to figure out what I already had and what I really wanted.

At the beginning of the year, I had no clue. I used to be the type to tell people whenever they would ask about my future plans, “Oh you know, I’m just going with the flow and dealing with it as it comes.” At the time, that seemed like the best way to approach life but when you believe in manifestation, going with the flow and abundance don’t exactly go well together for a number of reasons that are just occurring to me as I reflect.

For starters, what is abundance anyway?

When we’re talking about shifting our mindsets and moving from scarcity to abundance, what is really being said is that we’re shifting our thoughts from always focusing on what we don’t have to focus on what we do have.

When we focus on the good or what already exists and is working for us in our lives we become more creative with the way we use these things, people, and/or situations to propel us towards our goals.

Imagine operating from a mindset of scarcity then. You do the complete opposite. When you focus on the negative you’re constantly telling yourself, “I can’t do _____ because I don’t have _____” and that blocks your path to creativity if you’re not trying to help yourself out of it. In a sense you end up forgetting your goals and focusing on complaining about the things, people, and/or situations that you believe are getting in the way.

If you look at it from the perspective of me going with the flow, however, having an abundance mindset was working against me because I didn’t know what the hell I wanted so life was throwing me into a multitude of situations. I was meeting all kinds of people and having to spend a lot of time sifting through who or what felt right or aligned with me.

That’s difficult to do when you aren’t even in alignment with self to begin with!

I started to understand that half of my problem was that I didn’t know what I wanted and while it probably isn’t an end of the world situation, it was emotionally exhausting to deal with this abundance of everything I found myself attracting. 

So in 2019, I had to take the time to get clear on who I am and what I want out of this life. It was a long taxing process that involved a life coach, countless hours journaling, listening to podcasts, mending broken relationships, loving myself harder, training my mind to think differently and allowing myself to live in alignment with my truth.

Over the last ten months, I ended up having to come back to one word over and over – intention. I wanted to live with intention. I needed to be more intentional in order to make it through some of the most difficult days this year. If I hadn’t been, I wouldn’t be here writing this now.

My intention for returning to this blog is to give a voice to others who aren’t seeing enough of themselves reflected in conversations about developing a mental health practice that helps them reconnect with who they truly are. 

As a Caribbean Millennial woman of colour living abroad, I have had the time to give myself the space to dig deeper and work on myself and I know that a lot of my peers in the Caribbean do not have the luxury of free time to really engage with themselves and commit to their journey inwards.

Intention without a doubt drives me every morning I wake up and decide to be the truest possible version of myself. If I am not being me, then I am doing the world a huge disservice. Even more so, when I’m in disharmony with my truth I tire myself out faster and lose motivation quickly.

Being intentional about my thoughts, in turn, led to intentional actions that have created intentional relationships. This process has brought me immense peace over the last year and whenever I feel myself losing steam I only have to remind myself of my goals and reassert my intention about getting them done.

It sounds great to come up with a word for the year that you want to focus on but first do yourself a huge favour and figure out who you are and what you want for yourself by the end of the year. It takes a lot of the pressure off and makes it so much more worthwhile when the goal is a tangible personal goal that you can work towards every day. Let your intention guide you to your word for 2020.

Love and light to you always,

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