Word of the Year (or Two)

I have been thinking about my 2014 Word of the Year for a while now. Last year, I chose “brave,” which I loved. Although I didn’t do many of things I listed in that post (I did add shelves to the bathroom and I did go to Haven and not act like a wallflower), it was more because of time constraints than desire (or lack thereof).

I did many things this past year that I would consider brave. Aside from the two listed above, I learned how to unclog a toilet without spending $200 on a plumber; I bought and used a nailer for the first time (and loved it!), making a cool headboard for my sports-loving son;

I finally finished the dining room so that it reflects our style.

There are other examples, too.

In fact, I loved this Word of the Year so much that I really considered using it again this year. But what’s the fun in that? I needed something different, but was sort of stumped. So, I consulted one of my personal advisors, my six-year-old daughter.

Here’s how it went down:

Me: “M, what do you think my Word of the Year should be?”

M: “How about ‘confident’?”

Me: “OK – that’s a good one. Why do you say that?”

M: “Well, you build things. To build things, you have to have confidence.”

OK then – that makes sense to me. But then I pressed her a bit…

Me: “M, what do you think ‘confidence’ means?”

M: “I don’t know.”

Me: “Well, you suggested the word and you used in the right context, so I think you have an idea of what it means.”

M: “I think it means that you don’t give up, even when things might be going wrong.”

Dear Husband explained that that’s part of confidence, but “confidence” means believing in yourself.

I like both of these ideas. In fact, they go hand in hand. Confidence is believing in yourself, and sticking with something, even if it’s going wrong, because you believe you can do it.

I even wrote about that here.

So, I’m going to do what my six-year-old said and adopt “confidence” as my Word of the Year. I will also take “Persistence” as a second Word of the Year, to go with Confidence. Seems a natural fit.

I’m still working on how I’m going to implement “confidence” this year. I have some ideas, which I will, of course, share with you here.

What is your Word of the Year? What does “confidence” mean to you?

As always, thanks for stopping by!