Forging Ahead in 2023

20 years ago, I stopped making New Year’s resolutions. 

Like most folks, I would make a couple of goals or resolutions for the year, and it would work…for a couple of weeks. At the end of January, I would look at the first 1/12 of my year and realize I was a failure. Or even worse, I would reflect at the end of the year how I did on my goals and realize that this was the first time I had even thought about them for the whole year. Cue the shame and guilt that would show up on my front porch. 

So, all those years ago, I made a switch. Instead of choosing resolutions, I chose a word to focus on for the year. At the end of every year, I spend some time thinking about what the year ahead is going to bring, then I choose a word that I think might capture where my focus might need to be for the upcoming year. Virtually every time (so far), I’ve started with a word thinking - this is what it means and how I think it will show up! - and every year, that word has morphed and shown up in ways I couldn't have imagined at the start. 

I’ve had a lot of different words; for example, this past year’s word was excavate. The one before that was unlock. Before that, it was notice, surrender, health, and love. Each year, after picking my word, I print it out and tape it to the wall above or beside my monitor so that it’s a daily reminder. Some years, those words jump off the paper and smack me (lovingly, of course…) across the face with lesson after lesson. Other years, it’s simply a word that blends into the wall that I don’t pay much attention to. Regardless, at the end of the year, it’s been nice to sit with the word of the year and reflect on how it’s shown up. 

The Word of the Year

As I focus my thoughts on the coming year, I know that this year will bring some big changes. Changes to my family’s life, changes to my professional life, and changes in all kinds of shapes and sizes. 

As I attempt to plan this upcoming year, I know that there are going to be some wonderful and difficult transitions ahead, and one word continued to show up for me: 

Forge

I picture a blacksmith’s shop, and they are throwing a piece of metal into the fire and heating it to unbearable temperatures. They grab their tongs to fish it out of the fire, bring it over to their anvil and with their hammer, they beat that piece of metal over and over again until that metal begins to take the shape that the blacksmith had originally intended. 

It sounds painful when you take that picture and put it into what your year might look like, doesn’t it? While I hope this year won’t be overly painful, I do know that with change, and transition comes loss and chaos. With all the excitement and new adventures that will present themselves to us, there will also be anxiety and grief that things are, yet again, changing because change is hard. 

I dove into the dictionaries and have come up with these definitions for forge: 

I’m curious to see where this word takes me this year and to see how it impacts various parts of my life. 

What about you? 

What’s a word that you can focus on for the year? Leave a comment below with what the word is and why you chose it!