What Word is 2021?

Meadowsweet Cottage

I like having a thought that can inspire me for the year ahead.  Even better if it's a single word that encapsulates goal and ambitions.

I really thought Vision was perfect way back last January given that 20/20 is a solid benchmark at one's optometrist. And maybe it was a good thought, although it didn't work out quite the way any of us thought. It's too bad there wasn't more vision utilized as challenges appeared.  Too bad that people didn't look ahead and think.

This year?  I'm afraid to hope.  Well, not entirely true.  I'm wary and afraid to hope too much. So I don't want a word with too much optimism for fear that I might jinx myself.

 Currently I'm thinking that Choice may be a good reminder for 2021. It's a stand-back-and-think-about-it kind of word.  It's a word for being proactive rather than reacting thoughtlessly.  It's goal-oriented.

I think that our choices reflect our inner person.  Who we truly are deep down in our individual core. They reflect our principles, our lines in the sand as well as what we are willing to trade for what we want.

Oh sure, some decisions are trivial and mundane.  Or we think they are and then find that even those add up eventually.

Others can be life changing.

Our choices define us.  They define our future.  They shepherd us toward a goal.

I truly hope that having Choice as my touchstone might make me think a bit harder, reflect a bit deeper, examine closely.  

We all are going to have a lot of choices this year that are going to shape society and influence the way history looks back on us.  Reconciliation?  Consequences?  Responsibility?  Independence? 

Choice is never about the past, but rather the continuing saga of our lives. Choice moves us forward, or sideways or spins us around dizzily.  Choice can be risky or cautious.  We can be unsure as we choose and trust that things will work out.  We can choose to change our minds if our original choice proves unwise.

Anyone else choose a word this year?

p.s.  I wrote this on January 1, intending to edit it, thinking that perhaps a different word would emerge.  But after yesterday's shameful events in our nation's capital, I think that perhaps Choice was the perfect word and my thoughts need no editing.