Word of the Year: 2022

I am in the midst of a dilemma. I have two words that are really resonating with me at the moment, and I have already decided on one, but the other is calling to me. I think I will have two words of the year, but the first one is the most important to me.

This "word of the year" practice is one that I started two years ago, and it has really made me focus. I took this from the bullet journaling community that I stay on the fringe of at all times, and, at first, I thought it was kinda silly, but now it is part of my annual planning. Last year's word came after weeks of brainstorming and thought and all that. This year's words have just come to me with less of a thought process - they just showed up. I'm taking this as a sign that the words that I have are good for me.

Last year's word became "deepen." I loved this word as it directed my focus towards learning more about things that interested me. I used this word to inspire me to take different continuing education courses, start a music therapy networking group, and finally buy a house! I feel like "deepen" was a good year for a year of grief and growth. As this year comes to a close, though, I am ready to move into my next focus.

So, the second word that has been rattling around in my brain is "release." This is a good word for my desire to downsize and get things less cluttered around here, but it is not the word for my year. "Release" is going to be my secondary word.

My word of 2022 is "explore."

Part of my process of finding a word is to start to define what that word means to me. Right now, I have listed some smaller words and concepts that make this the word. I want to go places - both locally and virtually. That is the most obvious interpretation of this word - going to new places and to see new things. I didn't stop there. 

There is so much in this world to explore, so I have listed other things to do and to try out. I want to find new ideas and concepts. I want to explore more about some of the things that are concerning me about the music therapy world and society in general - things like cultural influences, identity, and social structures that are beneficial to some but not to all. I am going to continue to explore different ways of doing music therapy as part of this word. I will explore things personally, intellectually, and emotionally.

This leads me to my quests. Rather than having goals for this year because I tend to not accomplish any of them, I decided that I want to set some quests for myself. This idea was inspired by an advertisement that I saw on social media - for the Hero's Journal. I have not bought one of these because the cost is a bit more than I can justify on spending on a journal, but I love the idea. I think I will use my Christmas money to purchase the pdf version so I can use this journal without the binding. Done! Anyway, quests seem more doable than goals for me right now. We will see at this point next year if I have accomplished more than I did on my formal goals for this year. For the moment, I am enjoying the novelty of thinking about things as quests.

The next couple of days will be quest focused. I will use the thought of what I want to explore out there in the bigger world of places and ideas to guide me in my quest. I will also use my new pdf version of the journal referred to above (not an affiliation post, by the way, just something I use) to help me start to set my quests for 2022.

So, armed with my two words of the year - release and explore - I will move into this new year with a new focus in both my personal and professional lives.

It is time to start exploring ideas for my word of the year. See you tomorrow for TME Tuesday.