Do you do New Year’s resolutions? Or one, two, or three theme words for your upcoming year? I seem to do a mix depending how I’m feeling each January.
For 2021, a single word felt right and it came to me quickly. It’s -ish. It’s simple but so full of meaning for me.
As in, I am not going to hold myself to any particular high standards (which often approach demoralizing perfectionism, especially with all of the challenges in the world right now). I’m not even going to need things to be “just so.” I am definitely going to stop my usual tendencies to go above-and-beyond (especially for people who really shouldn’t be getting that level of effort out of me in the first place).
Nope, I am going to be good with -ish. Close enough. Kind of. More vague, less precise. Just -ish. For example, I’m participating in Dry-ish January.
I discovered that it’s also the name of a great little book for kids about not stifling your own creativity. Good lessons here for you communications folx too!
Now, of course, ish means something else too. If you’re unaware, it’s the clean substitute in lyrics and social media posts for shit. And that word, as the family lore goes, was also my first word as a baby, so it fits.
I do have a second word presented to me via my church. During her Epiphany service, just as the Magi followed the Star to find the Christ Child, our pastor asked us to spin a wheel of words online to find our own personal Star Word to guide us through 2021.
Mine is “examine.” At first, I hated it and told my kid, who spun it on her phone for all of us in the family, to get me another one. But then I returned to -ish, and decided to keep it. So while on the surface it feels like an odd-ball combo, it works: I am examining the things I do and feel to see where I can get rid of the ish in my life by approaching it with a more -ish attitude.
I’d love to hear the stories of your words or resolutions if you want to share!
