My One Word in 2016: Experience

Hey, there!

Last year was contraditory in some ways because it was a rollercoaster of emotions, but very laidback physically. I mostly stayed home – didn’t visit many people, didn’t travel anywhere, didn’t go out very often. However, I took a ride into my soul and investigated my mind and heart which was a pretty exciting trip. I worked hard on developing my skills as a digiscrap designer and advertiser while growing JB Studio brand, it was tiring and challenging sometimes, but most of all it was happy, entirely opposite of teaching which I remained doing part time as an income complement. I didn’t work hard on that, but it was unhappy more often than happy. I was sort of absent as a wife since I was focusing on myself, but I was giving more of me when cooking healthier and having conversations from the bottom of my heart. I was more concious about my role as a mother and watched my daughter closer while she was turning into a tween in a new school, despite feeling like giving up when she was not open to listen or understand my intentions. I got closer to my parents and sister and that’s the only thing that is not contraditory, only good aspects about it.

I struggled with deep emotions,
but felt extremely grateful for it.

I moved forward into 2016 marked by all the searches and discoveries of myself, my beliefs and fears. Who I am today is shaped by what I lived last year and in the years before that. Recently, I was told that everything we are living now is a result of the energy we were vibrating in the past. So, if I want to predict my future I need to take a deep look at the energy I’m vibrating today. And that lesson played a huge role in my choice of word for 2016.

Some days ago, I chanced uppon Lily’s post about her word for the year and I believe this extract could’ve been written by me. She couldn’t be more correct about how I felt approaching the new year. I was super happy about all I accomplished in 2015, but I was also feeling super overwhelmed by all my expectations of changes.

There are dozens of ways I’d like to change, but when I think of all the things I need to do better I don’t feel inspired to step into a new year – I feel too overwhelmed to even know where to start. I need to eat better, to exercise more, to drink more water, to be less selfish, to love better, to make more time for writing, to travel, to explore, to learn a new language or skill, to be a better friend, to volunteer, to blog more consistently, to stop whining so much, to pray more, to be more organized.

That’s the reason why I decided to abandon my list of resolutions in 2016. I’ve been choosing one word for 3 years now but I also had a big list of resolutions every single year. I decided to try the idea of letting my word for this year lead me to what I should change, relying on my intuition.

One of the biggest changes I made in 2015 was listening and relying on my intuition. I was told so many times that I should listen to it because it would lead me to where I wanted to go and who I wanted to be, but I was too afraid. Back in October of 2014, Einstein’s quote hit me and I determined that I was going to do things differently.

I was feeling afraid? Yes, totally.
BUT I WAS DOING IT!

Now I have a stronger belief that when you determine something, it invariably happens. I’ve always believed that, but all I experienced in 2015 made me understand that in my heart, not only in my mind.

A new year always begs the question how did I spend my time last year and how do I intend to spend it this year? With that question in mind, I spent late November and early December of 2015 reflecting to get to this point: I don’t want to have resolutions for 2016. I don’t want to push me into a river of anxiety to end up in a castle of frustration and regret every time I slip off the path I chose. That doesn’t work for me anymore.

Photo credit: Lívia Cristina via Foter.com CC BY-NC-ND

And my word for 2016 is EXPERIENCE.

ex·pe·ri·ence (ˌikˈspirēəns/) noun

practical contact with and observation of facts or events.

As I mentioned, 2015 was a rollercoaster of emotions. I was very focused on connecting with myself mentally, but very laidback physically. What I aim for 2016 is practical contact, physical movement, action.

There is nothing more terrifying to me than the thought of being inert, not learning new things, not meeting new people, not trying new tastes, not doing what I love, not loving my life. How much of action do I miss by keeping everything in my mind, only dreaming or reflecting? This year, I want to keep on dreaming and reflecting while learning to take action towards what matters to me.

I am setting my intention this year on passing through experiences my intuition leads me to. I will choose not to fear the path it tells to be the right one for me. I want to to see the extraordinary wrapped up in big events or small everyday motions.

What about you? Have you chosen One Word for 2016, leave a comment below and share what you chose and what it means to you. 

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May you experience a lot of happy moments this year.
Hope you have an amazing creative day.