What’s your word?

Today is my birthday.  I’m 34, though I still look like I’m barely out of high school.  That has its good side, but trust me, it has its bad side too.  Being treated like a teenager when you are in your mid-30’s is not fun!

Anywho, even though today is a celebratory day for me, it’s still a normal Thursday.  And normal days bring introspection for me, especially on birthdays.  And today, the answers seemed to fall in my lap.  Happy Birthday to me!

I went through my morning routine seamlessly, and after the ton of dishes were washed, my workout was complete, and I was sparkly clean, I started getting ready for work (my work day starts around lunchtime).  While getting ready, a local TV news/entertainment show was on the television.  They had a guess star who is a local counselor, motivator, speaker and author: Rosie Molinary

She had a simple idea that I had never thought about.  They were talking about New Years Resolutions and how they are impractical and oftentimes set you up for failure.  And why?  Because they are specific things to achieve.  For instance, lose 20 lbs, run a marathon, learn French, etc.  And if you do not accomplish these things by the end of the year, you feel like a failure, even if you have made positive gains.

The example they used was a resolution of a marathon.  What happens if you are training regularly, making great progress, but a month before your race you find out you have a stress fracture and can’t run?  Even though you were a rock star training for your marathon, you still feel like a failure because you didn’t run the race.  And thus the point of the resolution is flawed.

She said instead to think of how you want to feel over the course of the year, and make that your resolution.  The actions you take should follow that feeling you desire.  Because really, we want to lose weight, learn, accomplish, etc. because we think it will make us feel a certain way.  When in reality, we should be focused on feeling a certain way instead.

Rosie advised to come up with one word to sum up how you want to feel this year to gain focus.  Strong, Peaceful, Abundant.  The word I was thinking about was fearless.  But it didn’t feel quite right.  Fearless brings about images of jumping off of skyscrapers, climbing volcanos, and sky diving.  That was not what I had in mind for my year.

Then, I got into the car to go to work, still ruminating on my word, and the first song on the radio:

Brave.  What a perfect word!  Because I don’t need to jump off of anything.  I want to be able to face my anxieties and live life despite them.  To read more about my definition of being brave, check out my Being Brave page on this blog!

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