Continuing my practice of choosing a word for the year, I chose ‘Yes’ in 2021. As the year draws to a close and it’s almost time to choose a word for 2022 (!), I’m looking back on what I learnt from saying ‘yes’. The most important learning for me is to say a wholehearted yes to life!
Yes To Life In 2021
Life comes to us in all sorts of guises and it presented itself to me in the form of grief, anger, challenge, reflection, guilt, fear, joy and the normal, routine, sometime mundane tasks of life. I invested time and money in learning this year. And though many of my plans didn’t take off – courses and a regular podcast, for example, I’ve been fairly consistent about my writing.
At every turn, I had to choose how to respond. Sometimes my saying ‘yes’ to something meant my saying ‘no’ to something else.
When I invested in joining a writing community, I didn’t bargain for it turning out to a place that challenged me to rethink why I write. It helped me reaffirm some beliefs and caused me to give up some aspects of my blogging that didn’t seem to be soul-led.
I began to reflect a lot more and restarted a practice of scripture reading that I gave up long ago. Also this year, I was most consistent with my Morning Pages.
While I’ve shared my journey with my WOTY by writing posts almost every month (thanks largely to the lovely monthly One Word Linkup created by Lisa Burgess), I just wanted to summarise this year by saying that my ‘yes to life’ has brought back parts of myself I had forgotten. It has certainly infused a lot more joy and gratitude into my life.
I remember reading a lovely passage from Gabrielle Roth that went like this:
“In many shamanic societies, if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions: “When did you stop dancing? When did you stop singing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop being comforted by the sweet territory of silence?”
My yes to life has helped me move from being disheartened into being more alive to the leading of God within me calling me to be myself.
What was your word for 2021 and how did it translate into your life?
Here are the posts I wrote as I journeyed through my word of the year :
- January: Word of the Year: 2021 A Year of Yes
- February : Every Yes Changes Something In Me
- March : Listen To Your Life
- April : An Untold Story
- May : Intentional Focus
- June : Commitment In June
- July: Persistence In Practice
- August: Say Yes and Finish
- September : Doing The Next Right Thing
- October: Saying Yes To Gratitude
- November : What Are You Making Time For?
Love, love, love this post! It has been a pleasure reading all your posts this year. I am so happy to see you progress in all areas of your life. I think I also told you that your writing has changed and I really look forward to every post of yours. A lot of your posts also got me thinking and introspecting. Thanks for sharing so much! Can’t wait to read about your woty for 2022. A huge hug and May the peace of Christmas be with you!
My word was obedience. OK, I changed my word because it wasn’t clear in the first month. So it changed from waiting into obedience. That was a better description of my heart attitude. While I am writing this now, I think … maybe it’s a good idea to write a post about it.
I love your post bout your word.
Hi Corinne – it was a great #WOTY and very inspiring to see what you did with it. I feel like I’m running out of steam with my blogging and have been using my time on other pursuits. I’ve just started The Artist’s Way and Morning Pages to see if it triggers my interest in blogging again, or whether it’s time to move on to new endeavours. 2022 wil definitely be the decider for me. Have a great Christmas and I’ll be back to see what new word you choose.
‘Yes’ is a fun word, Corinne! This is a beautiful testimony. “I just wanted to summarize this year by saying that my ‘yes to life’ has brought back parts of myself I had forgotten.” I rejoice with you.
This post Corinne is so full of hearts, inspiring and empowering to the YES of being carried by the force of the universe. You claimed your power. I wasn’t aware of choosing a word for the year but yes there have been numerous challenges with anger and overwhelming but also some positive surprises sprang up. Like they say, count your blessings/
It is an interesting observation that when we say ‘yes’ to something we actually say ‘no’ to something else. I loved this post. I have also written my WOTY post. WOTY actually help us to create a roadmap for the year. Thanks to you for introducing me to this concept. Ever grateful for the writing community that you created Cory.
Corinne, a lovely post and summary of your fabulous word “Yes”! So much to learn there, and I love what you have shared in our One Word community! Here’s to learning more in the coming year!
“I just wanted to summarise this year by saying that my ‘yes to life’ has brought back parts of myself I had forgotten. It has certainly infused a lot more joy and gratitude into my life.” Wow–if we could all say this about our journeys with our one word, what a success we could claim! It makes my heart soar to read your summary. What a beautiful (although not always easy) year of Yes you’ve had, Corinne. I’m glad you said yes to walking out this journey with our One Word group this year. You’ve been a blessing to me, friend!
“yes to life’ has brought back parts of myself I had forgotten” – and that’s one of the most powerful things that a WOTY does for us, I think. In so many ways, our words just end up showing us a mirror and influencing our days and months in beautiful, magical ways. Words truly are spells! Thanks for introducing me to Lisa’s WOTY community. I hope it will help me to reflect on my word for 2022 more closely.
Wish you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year, Corinne! xx
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