My word for the year 2020: RHYTHM

4 min read

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you might know that I have been picking a guiding word for the year since 2018. And this year I am doing it again!

I know, this post is coming a little late – I meant to write this one and a 2019 recap post and a post with my goals for the new year ages ago, but I was ill over new years and so it all happened a bit differently to how I had planned it. Nonetheless – here we finally here!

If you have never heard about setting a word for the year, Ali Edwards has some great posts on the idea and I have also written about it previously. Now just a short re-cap of my words in previous years.

In 2018, my word for the year was FOCUS.

One of my strengths is that I get easily excited and have many ideas. However, that can result in starting too many new ventures and without completing the previous one. I needed to work on honing in and focusing on one thing at a time rather than jumping from project to project. Having this intention as a central goal to work on really helped me to become more committed and disciplined in sticking with the things that matter to me. (For example, in 2018 I managed to finish reading 30 books, 10 more than the year before).

You can read more about what I wanted to focus on specifically here and about how it went here.

In 2019, my word was PEACE.

Lots of change was on the horizon (heck, it was a pretty crazy year! Hopefully I still manage to write that re-cap post) and I felt slightly anxious about all the big and small challenges and decisions that were waiting for me. I made an effort to relax, to strip things back, to take deep breaths, to rest in the knowledge that God has a good plan.

Of course, I still felt anxious occasionally or stressed. But just uttering “Peace” to myself and doing the things I know that calm me down made the craziness much more easy to manage.

You can read more about the ways in which I tried to invite more peace into my life here.

This year, I am choosing the word RHYTHM.

Weekly rhythms

After some very full years, it is time to establish some healthy rhythms of working and resting. I have become very interested in figuring out what a Sabbath, a day of rest should look like for Edd and me. Making an effort to have one day every week where we re-charge and fill our hearts and minds with God’s word, our bellies with good food and just enjoy some time off.

The idea of Rhythm also encompasses another aspect related to time for me. In December I bought a book entitled “Living the Christian Year” by Bobby Gross which teaches about the different seasons in the Christian calendar beyond Advent and Lent. Living by these Christ-inspired seasons and having them give the rhythm for my life sounds so refreshing to me. In that, I am excited to learn more about daily rituals and rhythms that nourish my spirit and help me draw close to God.

Moving to the rhythm

Dancing is a pretty obvious thing that comes to mind when one hears the word Rhythm. One of my goals for 2020 is to try out tap-dancing. I think it will be so fun.

Also, running is always been a rhythmic experience for me – moving my feet and taking deep breaths to the beat of my own heart – Rhythm, right?! Another 2020 goal of mine is to go on 120 runs. Today is the 10^th of January and I have only got one run in the books so far. But I am still optimistic, even more so as 2020 is a leap year. Still 356 days left! Easy peasy.

Creating rhythms

As some of you might now, music plays a big part in my life. I love singing and playing the guitar and would love to make more time for it this year.

Also, I often feel that making – whether it is sewing, knitting, photography or cooking can turn into a sort of creative dance. And I ALWAYS want to make more time for making.

Well otherwise, I just want to be open to my word for the year, see (or dance to) where it takes me.

Have you got an intention or word for the year? I would love to hear about it!

If not, it is definitely not too late to set one. There is still 356 days of 2020 left.