Thursday, January 31, 2013

A Guiding Word for 2013

Over the past month, I've read many blog posts on choosing words rather than resolutions for the new year.  These - here, here, here, and here - are amazing, but my favorite is on Between Dreams; I've never done something like this before and I found Allie's suggestions exactly the encouragement I needed to get started!  January ends today and I have a better appreciation of the shape that 2013 will take, so I'm ready to share my word:


I said this in 2012 but it's true this year, too: 2013 is going to be a time of change.  I'm settling into a new job, in a few months I'll get married, and soon after that I'll move out of my parents' house into an  apartment that I'll (eventually) share with my husband.  Each of those transitions carries with it a new sense of identity.

The thing is, even though all these changes are exciting, I don't want to completely lose who I am currently.  So my word for 2013 is metamorphosis; while I am moving from one stage of life to another, I will always hold on to the memory of all the identities that I have explored before, and I will create a new one that is a composite of those that have defined me in the past.  We always do, I suppose, but sometimes we're tempted to leave former identities behind and this year I don't want to start from scratch.  I want to build on who I am now.  After all, every butterfly starts out as a caterpillar, right?

4 comments:

  1. Congratulations, little caterpillar! Picking a word is always the most fun :) Love your choice! Sounds perfect for this year. xo, e

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  2. Wow! What a wonderful post to read to start out my day. I'm so happy that my post motivated you to pick such an incredible word! I love everything it embodies. I especially love that you said "I want to build on who I am now."

    So much can be taken away from that one line alone. We are already magnificent creatures, it's just about *consciously* evolving. Picking out those guide words. Setting those intentions. And morphing into the beautiful butterfly we were destined to be.

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