It’s hard to believe that this is my 11th year selecting a word of the year. At first, I was just moving away from resolutions that felt limiting. However, over the last decade I have loved finding a word each year, seeing how it shows up within my life, sharing it with others, and reflecting on the year with my word as the lens. These words have truly framed my life in unique ways. I love looking back at my words and reflecting on how they showed up in my life.

• 2024 –> DELIGHT
• 2023 –> GENTLE
• 2022 –> CONNECTION
• 2021 –> DARING
• 2020 –> GRACE
• 2019 –> SHINE
• 2018 –> POSSIBILITY
• 2017 –> CHALLENGE
• 2016 –> REJUVENATE
• 2015 –> MINDFULNESS

To close out 2024 and ring in 2025, I spent a week in Maui with family. Last year when I was there, my then almost five year old nephew helped me land on DELIGHT as my word of 2024. All week I kept asking him to help me find my new word. His suggestions included: love, fun, awesome (his word of the year!), and unstoppable (which I love!). His mother, my cousin, landed on NO for her word, and I love that for her! Some of the words that I was playing around with included unstoppable and explore, and I will reflect on these words, but they are not my one word focus for this year. Based on the challenges on my past year, and my hopes and dreams for the coming months, I have landed on my 2025 word:

During 2025 I want to listen to:

• My body
• My mind and soul
• My needs
• The people who matter to me
• The stories that matter
• What people say AND what people do not say
• Good teaching and learning
• Quality, reliable sources
• Music I love
• Audiobooks and podcasts and entertainment
• Nature

What is your word of 2025?