One Blogger’s Dilemma of Picking that One Little Word (OLW)

So, there is this thing going around called your One Little Word. I do not know much about it, having heard of it just recently. Last year, in March I signed on to TwoWritingTeachers.org daily blogging challenge. Occasionally, I would see a post about what one little word someone had chosen for 2017.  Last week, I learned that most people choose their One Little Word for the new year.  The Slice of Life Tuesday forum for yesterday, 1/2/18, contained many posts about the One Little Word people had chosen for this year. All this got me thinking. I love words. I am, what I consider myself to be, a “word person”. I have even told people I am a word person!  Constantly, I am encouraging my students (when I have a group of them) to learn new words, word roots, and various word meanings.  You would think I would love this One Little Word thing that is going around.

In all honesty, I am not sure I do. It has me intrigued for sure. I enjoyed reading the posts yesterday with other blogger’s words and why they had chosen a particular one. But, there are a couple of things that are bothering me in particular.  It seems one more thing to do in an ever increasingly busy life. I actually made a New Year’s resolution this year, for the first time in a long time and that is to exercise more regularly – at least three times a week – at our YMCA.  I am a grad student, nearing the end of my degree program, conducting a research study, and it keeps me busy. It is my second graduate degree, but in an entirely different field than my first.  My other roles of wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, teacher, blogger, and jewelry artist also keep me humming along. I am a very goal directed person (You can tell this already, right?). So, why do I need to choose a “word”? One Little Word?

Another thing I think about the One Little Word bug is that choosing only one word is daunting! There are so many words out there one could choose.  How on earth do you make a decision?  Obviously, it is a process. The blogs I read yesterday recounted the author’s process and progress in choosing their One Little Word. Believe me, a lot of thought goes into this! I am not sure I want to give one little word that much thought!

And yet, this morning I found myself mulling over words that I could choose.  Some that rose to the surface were:

Kindness – This year I had the experience of being treated very kindly by people. Some of the people I knew well, some I knew briefly, and some not at all.  I had a health problem and the outpouring of support was an overwhelming blessing.  Food arrived at our house, messages of concern were sent, and new friendships were forged.  You get the idea. I certainly want to be a kinder person in this coming year. Kindness is important. I do believe we need to be kinder to each other, both those we know and those we don’t.

Hope –  During my health crisis, no one could take away my hope that I would be okay. I needed to hold on to this hope. Others need hope, as well. Yes, I think hope is a great word.

Perseverance – Also, a great word. Some people really need to work at this. I am not bragging here, but I don’t. That said, I need to persevere to finish my study (in progress) and my advanced degree. I need to persevere to continue to write on a daily basis. I need to persevere to publish some curriculum I wrote. But, I feel like I will do this with or without this one little word to guide me.

Improvement  –  Who doesn’t want to improve? Most of of want to improve on something we are doing in our lives! And, there in lies the problem! “Improvement” is too generic a word for me to be useful. In addition, I already made a New Year’s resolution to improve my exercise regime by making it more frequent.  I think I can take “improvement” out of the running for my One Little Word. (Am I choosing one now?)

And finally, the last word that came to mind this morning was serenity.

Serenity –  I relied upon this word a lot this fall while I had a one month period during which I did not know if my health crisis would be over with surgery or not.  I have continued to rely upon it to accept certain things in my life.  Typically, I am an anxious person. I am trying to realize and acknowledge what I can and cannot control. Worrying does not fix things, and in reality, sometimes can make things worse.  However, I almost feel like this word, whether I knew it or not, was my word for 2017.

ONE Little Word? It is so hard to decide. It has been a good exercise to think about. However, I am not sure I will put all my aspirations on picking One Little Word.