My 2021 Word of the Year

Jan 05, 2021

If you’ve been around a while, you already know I don’t do the typical New Year’s Resolution deal. Instead, for the last four years, I’ve chosen to start my new year goal setting off with choosing a word that I want to embody my year. In 2018, my word was community. 2019 brought the year of YES (truly one of my favorites so far). And for 2020, the year no one could have predicted, I went with flourish. If you’re laughing along with me for that last one because of how 2020 turned out then you’re in good company.

2020 was the first year in a long while that I’ve really gone for it in terms of goal setting. I went big and then failed miserably when I look back at my list of things I wanted to accomplish last year. But you know what? While I may not have flourished in the aspects I had laid out at the beginning of 2020, having chosen a word of the year allowed me to look past those empty checkboxes and instead focus on where I did make that word count. It’s hard to truly flourish in the midst of a global pandemic but there were definitely many areas in which I could feel myself flourishing throughout 2020. I was able to stand up for what I believed in and use my voice more without fear of backlash or losing followers. I flourished as a mother, being a solo parent through much of the pandemic, a military spouse experiencing my first deployment, and as a content creator who kept coming up with new ways to create content without leaving the comfort of my own home. I also flourished in understanding and setting boundaries and learning to ask for help.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or uninspired by setting goals in 2021, I encourage you to look back on the things you did accomplish over the course of 2020 instead of just what you didn’t. And if you’re not sure where to start with goal setting, I’ll be sending out an email to newsletter subscribers each week through January packed with tips and inspiration for setting goals this year. You can subscribe to the newsletter by adding your information to the box below! As a thank you, you’ll receive 9 journal prompts delivered straight to your inbox.

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My 2021 Word of the Year

Like a lot of people, I went with a concept that’s much more laid back than the average New Year’s Resolution. My 2021 word of the year is: Refresh. I think we can all agree that after 2020 and the continuation of this pandemic that we’re all in desperate need of a refresh to pretty much all aspects of our lives. Throughout 2020 and my month-long break in December, I’ve learned more about who I am as a person and as a content creator. I’ve honed in on what I actually want to create and put out into the world and what fills my cup up rather than deplete it. As I go into my fourth year of Made in Mom Jeans, I’ve realized that I lost track of myself in trying to keep up with and fit myself into a specific box. 2020 has also taught me that I need to refresh simple things like our daily routines and my relationships.

This year I’m hoping to:

Refresh old content to make it more helpful, searchable, and more in line with who I am as an individual and where the Made in Mom Jeans community is, and where I would like it to go.
Revisit and refresh my personal aspirations and dreams to more align with who I’ve become at almost 30 (I haven’t looked at any sort of list like this since before my husband and I got married).
Refresh our daily routines and habits so that we can spend more time together as a family and less time focused on boring stuff like cleaning.
Refresh and reevaluate which parts of my life are actually worth the energy and whether or not they fill my cup up.

Looking to choose your own word of the year for 2021? Here are a few tips I’ve learned over the last 4 years to help you get started!

Reflect on the previous year.

Every good goal-setting session starts with a bit of reflection and that’s what I’ll be kicking off January’s newsletter topic with. But if you’re impatient, sit down and spend some time reflecting on 2020.

Look at what you want to take with you from the previous year and what you want to leave behind. Once you have an idea of what the previous year was like for yourself in terms of goals, you’ll have a better idea of what you want the vibe of your word of the year to be.

Don’t choose a word that overcomplicates your life.

The word of the year you choose should be something that inspires and motivates you and that will challenge you but also won’t be completely impossible for you to hold on to throughout your year.

The thing with choosing a word of the year is that it’s supposed to guide you for the ENTIRE YEAR. It doesn’t need to be something you’re already good at (like my Year of Yes).

Choose a word that you can work towards little by little each day of the year.

Choose a word that feels right to you.

With the exception of 2020, my word of the year choices has always come to me pretty easily. I think 2020 was different because I wanted to focus on growth but not in a completely self-serving way.

I knew without a doubt that my 2021 word of the year needed to be refresh. So grab a pen and some paper, set a timer for 5 minutes, and jot down all of the words that come to mind during that time limit. Once you’ve started reflecting on them afterward, I’m certain a word will stand out to you.

Final Thoughts

I love seeing what other people have set for themselves as their word of the year so if you stumbled upon this post make sure to head over to Instagram where our active community will be sharing their words of the year for 2021 as well. I truly wish each and every one of you reading this a happy new year and I hope that 2021 is better for the world than 2020 was.