My word of the year for 2023 is Settled. I shared a little more about what that means to me in this Instagram post, but it just felt like such a relevant and recurring word after the year we had last year (which, no surprise to anyone who followed along, felt very Unsettled). Moving across the country mid-year and then immediately throwing the kids into a new school while trying to make friends, find a church, get all new doctors, everything down to figuring out my grocery store, and the list goes on. It seemed like everything I took for granted that helped me feel settled in the past was suddenly…. unsettled.
But examining the word settled even more really made me realize there were other areas in my life where I had allowed myself to be shakable, too. My convictions; my identity; my purpose; my friendships. Too many areas where I was allowing a bit of opposition or conflict to cause me to question and doubt myself.
So why “settled”?
Because it’s time that I allow myself to feel truly confident, truly at home, truly free in my own mind, body and spirit.
I want to be settled in my relationships.
In my new home and community.
In my patterns and routines.
In my skin and my body.
In my faith and convictions.
In the things I like and the things that energize me.
In the things that make me different. In being different. Letting go of sameness in favor of wild acceptance.
I want to be unafraid of being eccentric and loud, done with worrying how others will receive me.
I want to be rooted and grounded.
And I want to settle down, and let fewer things aggravate me or ruffle me. Be unflappable and even keeled, with my kids, with difficult people, and with circumstances beyond my control.
I guess there is a huge part of the word Settled that to me, means you know who you are, you know what you love and you know what you want to bring to the world, and you you are connected, deeply and profoundly, to your Creator; there is, as Bob Goff writes in his book Dream Big (a great New Year’s read, by the way) an undeniable string to your balloon, keeping you connected to that safe anchor while letting you float and fly and bring your color to the world. And that’s what I hope for 2023.
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