Word of the Year Check-In

Did you choose a word of the year?

Mine is authentic. For the past month, I’ve tried to keep myself focused on the idea of being authentic and living a life that’s truly aligned with the things that make me happy and keep me feeling like myself. Since I went back to work as a professor this month (after a glorious nine-month sabbatical), January was more challenging than it might otherwise have been. Nevertheless, I’m happy to report that I’ve stayed on track more often than not.

I think I was helped along in that project by the commitment devices I chose to employ. Early in the month, I spent some time trying to decide how I wanted to keep myself focused on the idea of living an authentic life; I thought about creating a vision board, but ultimately I decided that just wasn’t my style. So I went to a craft store, poked around a bit, and came up with this:

A very basic, no frills,  straightforward commitment device. That’s very much my style.

I bought this small frame at Michael’s for two dollars—the burlap string was already attached, so that took care of the need for a picture hanger. I bought the oval wooden plaque for less than a dollar, and a paint pen on sale. Then I came home and painted the interior of the frame denim blue, using a bottle of acrylic craft paint left over from one of my kids’ craft projects. (We always have as assortment of half-empty bottles of paint sitting around in the craft cabinet.) Originally I’d planned to paint the exterior frame as well, but I like the look of the unpainted wood in contrast to the blue interior, so I left it alone. I don’t know if you can see them in the picture, but the edges of the frame are darker, almost as if they were burned. The contrast looks rustic, but somehow polished. I really like it.

I painted the oval plaque peach (again, using a bottle of leftover craft paint) and waited for it to dry thoroughly before I wrote my word of the year—Authentic—across the front, using the bright blue paint pen I’d purchased. My first try at doing this looked awful, so I painted over it with the peach paint, waited for the surface to dry, and started again. I thought about using a stencil the second time, so the plaque would look more polished, but ultimately I decided that using my actual handwriting was probably more in keeping with the whole theme of being authentic. Then I used E600 craft glue to affix the plaque to the inside of the frame and let the piece sit on a flat surface while I waited for the glue to dry.

And now my little bargain-basement creation hangs in a nook above my desk, where the word Authentic stays at eye level every time I sit down to write. Just for good measure, I decided to assign key words to each of my five blogging goals and post that list right beside my word of the year. (I’ll be doing a check-in focused specifically on those goals this Friday.) And I really do think this is helping me stay focused.

I think of my authentic self as a creative person, for instance, so I crocheted a comfort shawl for a friend’s birthday this month instead of just buying her a gift. (Well, I bought one as well, but it was a creative gift too–a coloring book I thought she’d enjoy.) In order to stay focused on needs, rather than wants, Mike and I have implemented a new budgeting process that helps us focus on the things we actually want to do–like travel and put our kids through college–rather than the things we’d like to buy. And I’ve already decided against one work opportunity that would have meant some extra cash. It also would have sapped my energy at a time when I’ll most need it for staying focused on more creative endeavors, so I decided not to take it on.

Overall, I’m thinking I made the right decision in choosing authentic as my word of the year. How about you? Did you choose the right word, and how are you keeping yourself focused? Leave a comment below and let us celebrate your progress!

And if you haven’t yet chosen a word of the year, it’s certainly not too late. Go ahead. Give it a shot.