Word of the Year

In January 2019, I read the article: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/why-i-choose-word-year-melinda-gates/?linkId=61779285. I was so inspired by the words of Melinda Gates that I immediately decided to start following this practice as well. It made so much sense. The practice of having a word of the year allows you to both have focus and a certain degree of specificity and leaves a lot of room for introspection and a level of generalization.

It's very interesting that today, four years down the line, I am writing my own article in this space because of this exact practice of having a word of the year. My order of the words over the years has been as below:

#2019 - The word I picked was "Gratitude" because I wanted to start this practice with appreciation of everything that I had achieved thus far.

#2020 - Growth. In retrospect I find it quite interesting that I picked that word not realizing that we were going to be faced by perhaps one of the biggest speed bumps in history - The #COVID19 pandemic. Funny enough however, I experienced so much growth in that particular year (a story for another day).

#2021 - Decluttering. As we grow, we tend to realize that there are some things that we need to leave behind. Material things, people, relationships etc. That was the focus for that year.

#2022 - Renewal. This word felt like a natural fit post the previous words. As I say on the #Instagram post dedicated to this, I didn't really reflect much on this word the whole year, simply because of how busy the year had been. Probably my busiest year ever - but also one where I learned and explored a lot. Only to realize in the final days that so many aspects of my life had been renewed.

And now here we are, #2023. The word I have chosen for this year is Realization - of the many thoughts and ideas I have had over the years. Ideas that will hopefully make a real difference. And as mentioned before, this step of writing again is in line with this sentiment. The point isn't just to turn thoughts and ideas into initiatives but also to share them with others.

P.S.

• This isn't my first attempt at writing. Years ago, I got inspired by a TV show I was watching and started writing a blog. If you are interested, here is the link: https://potentialexpress.wordpress.com/. Please do share your thoughts (if any)
• I am happy to also announce that over the years I have inspired many other friends to also adopt this "word of the year" habit and it has yielded some very interesting results.