Are you familiar with having a 'Word of the Year'?

As 2023 is quickly approaching, I thought we'd take this opportunity to do a shorter episode and dive into this concept a little and explore what it might look like to have a word of the year, vs. a list of resolutions. I'll share examples of the words I've chosen over the past few years, as well as what I have arrived upon for 2023 and then talk you through the process.

There are examples of possible words, but what really matters is what connects most with you.

At the end of the episode, I also offer a recap of some episodes from 2022 of The Grit Show that you may have missed or want to revisit.

I would love to hear from you if you find a word for 2023! Come find the post on Instagram to share what you came up with or respond to the episode email if you are on our mailing list.

I hope your enjoyed your holidays and are finding some downtime at the end of 2022 to use for reflection and to prepare for 2023.

Thanks for being part of this community!

Be sure to forward this episode to a friend that may be interested in figuring out their word for 2023.

Episode Time Stamps:

00:36    Welcome

02:50    What is a Word of the Year?

04:32    Shawna's  2022 Word of the Year and how it Manifested

10:56    Process for Finding Your Word of the Year

12:50    Brainstorm of Potential Words for 2023

16:52    Self-Care Spotlight

18:21    Recap of 2022 Episodes to Revisit

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Shawna Rodrigues 0:01

2023 is upon us. We are days away from a brand new year. What does that mean to you? If you've been part of this community, you probably know that I'm a fan of New Year's Eve. End of year celebrations and the symbolism of new starts. But here on The Grit Show, we're all about nuance. So we're gonna spend some time talking about what that might mean to you, and some different ways to look at that. Have you ever chosen a word for the year? It's a different approach than resolutions. And one that we're going to chat about more today.

Shawna Rodrigues 0:37

Welcome to The Grit Show, where people come together for growth on purpose. Each week, we get tools for our arsenal to live life with a little more ease and a lot more joy. I'm Shawna Rodrigues, your partner in this journey, who like you, have given more than I thought I had to give, then surprised by my own strength, and is grateful for that grit, but also must learn how to live life a little smarter, not harder. As well as cherish my time here with you each week. My love for podcasting has blossomed into a network, where I find purpose and supporting others to amplify their voices, with a goal of 37 by 27, moving the needle on the number of women esteem podcasts. Thank you for being here with us. Don't forget to subscribe and follow us on your favorite platform so you don't miss new episodes when they come out.

Shawna Rodrigues 1:29

Today is a solo episode. And I'm going to keep it brief. For many, this is a holiday week. So I want to honor the time you have with your family and friends. I also took to heart last week's episode on burnout, and realize that I needed some time off. So I juggle things to make that happen. Showing up consistently is important to me. So the compromise was a shorter solo episode that required less than the typical production timeline. If this is a week that you happen to have more time for listening, I'll be sure to make some extra suggestions at the end of the show to give you some ideas of other episodes you can revisit from The Grit Show. The one on bounce burnout is a good one if that title resonates with you. Let's start with touching briefly on resolution.

Shawna Rodrigues 2:14

New Year's resolutions are a tradition, at least with most people I know. And it might be an American thing. I'd be curious for those in other countries to give me feedback on how common this is in other areas. Since I only know what I know, is something I've heard about since I was a kid and often came up with a couple because it's just something you did. They weren't always things I remembered and often things that I did for a short time, if I did them at all. There was a new concept that came into my awareness. A number of years ago that kind of clicked a little bit better with me and had a little bit more resonance. So we're gonna talk about that today.

Shawna Rodrigues 2:50

It's this concept of having a word of the year. I can't remember my first stumble across it. But I can tell you that it has been very powerful for me. The first route I ever chose was the word grace. It was largely about giving myself grace. Without letting go of judgment and forgiving myself for all the things I couldn't get done perfectly, be less a perfectionist, and about just going with the flow more. The beautiful thing was, the more I gave myself grace, the easier it was to have grace with others. The more understanding there was about everything, overall. Grace, health, gentleness and kindness. It was such a significant word to start with. And I'm so glad it happened to be the one that I started with.

Shawna Rodrigues 3:32

The next year, I had the word of gratitude. It really was wrapped up with this big obsession I have with gratitude. If you've listened to the show, you know, I'm big on this. And I feel so a gratitude practice is the single biggest thing that I've done to change my life for the better. It is something worth considering to make big changes happen in your life as well. Interestingly, I had a project for a while called Grit, Grace, Gratitude. And it ended up kind of coming out of grace, gratitude being my words of the year. And in retrospect, I realized that the year prior to those two years, was really a year of grit, grit in spades. It was actually the year that The Grit Show title came to me, even if I wouldn't have made it a podcast back then it was more kind of a loose thinking for a blog title, even if the show was in the, in the name of it, right? I didn't know anything about podcasts then. So even before I chose a word of the year, there was a word for the year.

Shawna Rodrigues 4:32

Last year I let go of alliteration and the word I chose was create. I even got a necklace that my sweetheart gave me that has my favorite flower, peony, and the word create on it. I love it. And I did wear often especially the beginning of the year to keep that top of mind. And it's kind of fun at the end of the year, I wasn't wearing it as much. And it was great to have this podcast as an impetus for me to kind of look back and think about things that I did create. The biggest one of the thing I am most proud of is this podcast. That was huge for this to finally happen and for me to finally create this.

Shawna Rodrigues 5:06

Shawna Rodrigues 5:56

So, a lot of creating, I also created the Author Express podcast. It's about hearing the voices behind the pages of incredible books, and an express format, hence the title, Author Express. And it's been a delight to connect with more authors that I've known and worked with and to be meeting new authors that I'm very excited to have on in the coming months. So more ways of creating and more ways of connecting. I felt like my creative side had been a little bit dormant if I've been doing so much work over the last few years, especially during the pandemic. So it was really nice to get back into that creative side. And I'm very excited about the things I was able to create as consequences of that.

Shawna Rodrigues 6:34

A dear friend of mine, do you know who you are, Laurie? She teased me with my $5 words, because I have my big words. But I love words. And so savor is my word for 2023. So what about you, is a word of the year something that speaks to you like one word that can remind you of what you want to get out of this year? What you want to rise that top? What thing you want to work with, that you think will make an impact for you? Is it something you need more of in your life? Is it a state of being that you want to invite in? Is it a practice that you want to enhance? Is there a word that's tugging at you right now, while you listen? Is one of the words that I've had, one, that resonated and spoke to you? Do you need a more systematic way to find them? If so, make time for that, find space for that. Maybe it helps to think through. What are the big things for you in the year ahead? Are there things, projects or activities that you want to be more mindful of? Is there anything you've been craving more of? Are there themes that have been coming up for you? Each time you hear the self care segment, do you think to yourself that you need to put yourself first? Is there a word that represents that or represents self care for you? That, hey, it's okay to use self care. I mean, hyphens, right? You can, you can use letting go too. I know is two words. But you know, it's a concept that we're talking about here. I don't get too particular on the rules around it. So just brainstorm a little, use a scrap of paper if that's what you have handy. Or get enormous sheet of tag board from the dollar store or your favorite cast store, get a pretty one. You do you. Whatever, whatever it takes to get it done. Use colorful markers, use whatever pen you find, grab a pencil, grab the crayon when your kids are coloring something else, whatever, whatever works for you to get it done. And then just really write and see what resonates for you. See what word rises to the top.

Is it something around self care? Is it patient? Do you want more joy? More solitude? More understanding? Is it something we talked about? Do you want more grace, whether yourself or with others? It doesn't matter. Grace encompasses all of that. Do you want more gratitude? Do you feel like that's a practice that will help you that, keeping gratitude friends of mine reminding yourself to shift to that thinking, to overpower the other Gremlins that are getting at you, is a good thing? Do you want room to create? What about being centered? Do you want to be more centered or more grounded? Does that speak to you? You can have savor, I will share savor. Do you want to savor? Do you want to be present? Is that a word? Do you want to celebrate? Do you want to celebrate every little thing? How about in the moment? In the moment, you can have that too. Or laughter, more laughter. Brainstorming, think if those spoke to you, or you could just spend a couple of days just pondering and see what words somebody says that kind of vibe you. Sharing, openness, fulfills. Do you want to be fulfilled this year? Do you want that? I keep a planner every year, very old school handwritten planner. And I write it in front of my planner so I glimpse it ever so often and be able to look at it and last year like I said, I had a necklace that I wear that had the word create on it.

So put it somewhere you'll see it. Right on the window where you do the dishes, right on your bathroom mirror. Give yourself little reminders, put it somewhere where you're going to see it, put it on a scrap of paper, pretty decorated, put it in your wallet. So each time you open your wallet, you see it and you can have that reminder. Find a way that speaks to you as a way that you're going to see it and be reminded that that's your word and bring yourself back to it so you can think of ways to integrate it and find it and see it. And honestly, like, that necklace, I tell you that there was more time I spent in the beginning of the year, with create being the word and thinking, create as my word. And later in the year, not so much. And it was so nice to revisit here in the last couple of weeks planning this podcast thinking about this, to realize that I did invite that in, and that I did create a podcast. And I did do more creative writing, and did do more with my writing this year. And that I am creating a network and that there is these pieces of creating, that I did. And we actually created the hadn't thought about that, that we created a little gifts for my fiance's coworkers. And we gave them that was the other creative thing that I did for that, which I haven't done that for some time, because of, you know, things like the pandemic and whatnot.

If you start with it and sit with it, it'll find its way in even after you're not as focused, which I love about that, right? Like it find its way in. And I still have that grace and that gratitude and those other pieces that I had from previous years, like they're still there, they're like they become part of the bedrock. Once you have them, a lot of them seep in. That' what I like about the word of the year, I can't tell you what my resolutions are five years ago, but my words of the year are still something that I can pull up because they kind of became integrated into things and part of me more, because they were just a word, which is a little simpler. They're big concepts, but they're words that they, they feel more manageable, at least for me. So, something to think about. And if you do do this, I would love for you to connect with me. Let me know what your word is. And I will actually put a post on Instagram. If you happen to be on Instagram, I'd love for you to stop by and tell me what your word is. Or just send me the email. If you're on our mailing list and respond on the email. Let me know what your Word of the Year is. Because I would love to know have you had the chance to do this. And what actually spoke to you what you came up with, that would be amazing. I would love for that.

And for the self care spotlight today, I might have mentioned this some other point in the podcasts, one of my favorite little self care rituals is actually baking. But baking, while I'm dancing around the kitchen with my music playing and not cooking, baking, my fiance often cooks dinner, and when I cook dinner, I do that also. But I often listen to podcasts. And I'm more focused on things, it takes more precision for me when I'm making dinner and cooking so to speak. When I bake, it's like muffins and cookies and fireless towards or baked brie or rice krispie treats or truffles. I mean truffles for the holidays. And so it's like a joyous treat. And it's like dancing and music and singing along and just losing myself and creating and being part of something and like there's just joy that goes with it. And to me that is different somehow. And that's more self care, tapping into joy. So that is my little self care spotlight. The reason we do the every week on this show is to give you guys glimpses of how different people take care of themselves to integrate that. So that when you need a reminder, you have this toolbox of different ways people take care of themselves to, to grab onto and see what fits for you and what feels right for you to take care of yourself. So that's one way that I take care of myself that I enjoy and can pull out when I need to have a little me time.

So before I let you go, I promised a recap of episodes to revisit if you have extra time, over this sometimes lower season for others, it's really busy into the year stuff. So it varies. But if you have some time, I'm gonna give you a few recommendations. So as I mentioned to Bounce Back from Burnout, which is episode 27, it says all in the title. If you felt less effective at work or at home, overwhelmed, it can be signs of burnout. So give that episode a listen and check out the tools in the show notes. And as you look at 2023 if you're looking for more alignment in your relationships, if you feel out of sync with people you care about or with that part of your life with connecting with others, you might give a listen to episode 13. And in the show notes, there's the quiz on love languages. And I feel like that's just a powerful thing. Understanding what your love language is, and maybe care a little more about love languages and alignment relationships can be a valuable tool. So check out episode 13. And if you have some thoughts about things to focus on in 2023, and the word of the year, but you're feeling unclear about yourself and you'd be muddled up and how that all flows together, and we had Belle Lockerby on. She had some great insight around the words that you have and how you define them. In other words, people have given you and questioning the definitions of words and how they fit you in your life. And that's episode 12. And if your career is somewhere where you feel a little stuck, like either you're looking for ways to network and move forward or whether you're kind of looking at your strengths and how they align with your work or you feel like you're a fish out of water with your work sometimes and you don't get appreciated for the gifts that you have, episodes 1, 15 or 17. All great options, look at the titles, it will tell you more. 1,15 or 17. So check those out, or just, you know, scroll through the titles and the descriptions have more for the different episodes. But those are all some good things for you to check out.

We're fortunate in here, we've been around long enough now, that The Grit Show that we have some options for you to look at. I'm excited for January, we had some fantastic conversations, they're a little bit more about lifestyle, and not so much about resolutions to kind of give you some different ways of looking at things. So we have conversations about intuitive eating, doing as a destination kind of focus, as well as delaying not denying, which is about intermittent fasting, which is intriguing because intuitive eating and intermittent fasting can kind of come from two different counts around thinking but listen to the episodes because they're both different. And they're different tools of these thinking of things, and I would love for you guys to listen to them, tell me what you think about them and what resonates with you because I want you to find what resonates for you. And they're both more of lifestyle thinkings and resolutions. So getting away from that. I know a lot of people are thinking about those things as to me or so we're giving you some different ways of looking at things. And both of them spoke to me in different ways. So hopefully, you can let me know what speaks to you and see how they come together for you.

Hopefully you enjoyed this episode, and picked out some of the word of the year or something that connected with you. If you did enjoy this episode, please take the time to share it with a friend. If you go to thegritshow.com and select listen to our latest episodes, you'll find links to all of our episodes. And after selecting an episode, it's easy to find this specific link to share that one episode. Follow us on Instagram, @The.Grit.Show. We love to connect with you on there, send us a DM is the easiest way to reach me. And no matter how your day or week has gone, just remember, you are the only one of you, the only unique individual with your perspective, talents and skills to offer that this world has got and that means something. I'll be here next week. And I look forward to connecting with you then.