Thursday, January 1, 2015

Word of the Year

Happy New Year!

I have NEVER been more ready to turn over a new leaf and start over again. Last year seemed like one loss after another, with precious few blessings. I am NOT sorry to see the end of 2014, as 2015 MUST be better. It just must.

The best summary of last year I can give, is to quote the one TV show I've been watching since I was three. Matt Smith (Doctor Who #11) said, in Vincent and the Doctor, "The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and... bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant."

That was last year.

This is now.

Several of my friends choose a single word to encapsulate their intentions for each year. I love the idea, and as I was thinking about 2015 and what I wanted from this year, a single word kept coming to mind. So this year, I too will be living this year with a single word as my focus rather than a list of goals.

This year, I will PERSEVERE.

Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines persevere as Latin, deriving from the word persevero. It says, "The last component part of this word, severo, must be the same as in assivero, with the radical sense of set, fixed or continued. So persist is formed with per and sisto, to stand. Constant and continue have a like primary sense. So we say, to hold on." The Free Dictionary defines persevere more simply, as: "To persist in or remain constant to a purpose, idea, or task in the face of obstacles or discouragement."

Either way you look at it, this seems like a great word of intention for this year. Many of the struggles we dealt with last year, are still with us. We will have an uphill climb, but we ARE climbing back up. So this will be a year of "holding on" and persisting in the face of discouragement. 

Or, to quote the good Doctor once more, (Doctor Who #10 this time) "Allons-y!" 

(For any other blogging geeks out there, I also just realized... this is my 100th post! Wow!)