Word for the Year

The idea filtered into my various message feeds from several different sources: Choose a word for 2022.

I scoffed. Count me among the covid-weary. I made plans for 2020. They didn't happen. I made plans for 2021. They didn't happen either. I'm too gun-shy to hope any plans I make for 2022 will actually come to fruition. So, I'm supposed to come up with a word, because ????. A touchstone word for this coming year? Bah, humbug!

But the idea stuck with me.

If I WERE to pick a word, what would it be?  Hmmmm...

What are the hopes I have for 2022 that insist on bubbling up anyways, despite my overall skeptical attitude towards the concept of the world settling down any just because I got a new calendar?

Hmmmm...

I hope, anyways, I will stumble onto a new sense of direction. Turns out, the start of a pandemic is not a good time to get out and about and try on different ways to spend the day. I retired two years ago, and haven't gotten bored yet, but I gotta admit my visions of retirement did not include figuring out how many ways I can keep myself busy without leaving the house.

I hope, anyways, to regain some focus. When this day looks like the last day looks like the next day will look a lot like this day, it's easy for me to lose track of time. To fall down the internet rabbit hole, to not bother to set goals because nobody cares if anything gets done. (not true: I care.)

I hope, anyways, to see more people. No, no big crowds for me, but it's safe enough to get together in small groups. Perhaps, this year, it's time for me to begin to reach out again, to set up coffee and lunch dates. I always did want to be one of those ladies-who-lunch - you know, the type who don't rush through their food, who have time to sit and catch up for a spell, who aren't rushing off to their next thing. (God knows I have nothing to rush off to these days.)

I tried on all of those words for size. Direction? nope. Focus? nope. Socialization? nope. None fit. After stewing about it for a few days, despite often reminding myself I thought it was a stupid idea in the first place, a word popped to the surface, and stayed there.

Grace.

It's a lovely concept. To honor the Divine Spark in all; to show kindness anyways; to show good will and courtesy in my interactions with the world and myself. 

I can get my head around that.

This year, I will try to show myself some grace. To have patience as I come to yet another dead end in my quest for a sense of direction. To give myself the benefit of the doubt when I stumble. To be kind to myself when I fall short of my goals, big and small.

This year, I will try to show grace to others. To look for the good intentions underlying the actions of the people I encounter as I go about my days. (I believe very few people get out of bed in the morning and decide then and there to spend their day making themselves and those around them as miserable as possible. I also believe exceptions exist, but I do my best to avoid interacting with 'those' people.) To be kind, and courteous. 

To remember we're all in this mess (alone) together. That this, too, shall pass.

Grace. If I were to need a word for the year, it would be the perfect one for me.