2020 Word of The Year: Grace
The past few years I have chosen a mantra for the year. In 2018 it was “Let it go,” and in 2019, “Do all things with love.” I wanted a phrase to remind me how I wanted to be in that year. Throughout the past two years, I have thought about my mantra regularly and mentally checked in on how life was aligning with that phrase. This year I decided to choose a word, grace. I also put together this mood board to capture how I hope 2020 feels. Relaxed, yet dynamic and adventurous, with an ease, and of course with grace. Scroll to read more about how I want to embody the word grace.
photos (clockwise from upper left): bathroom // mom and kids in Europe // beach chairs // Swiss Alps // home office // blouse // beach grass
Grace means: courteous goodwill. I want to have more grace with the people in my life. Grace toward my husband and kids. To be less testy and more calm. In daily life and the busy grind it is so so easy to fly off the handle, raise your voice and loose patience. That is not the kind of wife I want to be and that is not the kind of mother I want to be. I want to have grace with those closest to me. And also with strangers. I want to have grace in the Starbucks line when I’m running late and need to get my coffee and get to my destination and grace with the customer service rep who’s first language isn’t english. I want this word to be part of how I act and approach life.
Grace also means simple elegance or refinement of movement. And I relate to this definition as much, if not more than the first. I want people to be able to describe me as graceful. I feel like I’ve been running through life a million miles a minute, leaving a trail of clutter, unpacked projects and piles of laundry in my wake. It doesn’t take that much longer, just some better planning, to be able to take it all in stride and finish one task before moving on with the next. It is my goal this year to slow down, as I mentioned in my resolutions post, to set up systems to make things run more smoothly and to be intentional with my time and energy.
My 2021 word of the year is “rise.” 2021 is going to be all about building. I’ve laid the foundation, now it’s time to raise the walls! I have a calendar full of amazing couples, we are working on some exciting projects at KLH and I am kicking off the year by building a grant-funded art installation for the city of Grand Rapids! I am prepared for things to not go my way, but at this moment is seems like all arrows point up!