Open

Every now and then I get the feeling that the universe is trying to tell me something. And in the cases when I’m not paying attention or choosing to ignore, beat me over the head with something. I haven’t believed in resolutions since I was a kid. I got to the gym on a regular basis and can affirm that New Year’s resolutioners really do quit going by the end of January. Abstract resolutions aren’t sustainable. Concrete goals are. So I’ve always been more of a goal person. This year however, the universe is definitely trying to tell me something.

It started with an article in Runner’s World. Kristin Armstrong had written an article about choosing a word for the year to be the theme, motto, bottom line of 2011. Not one to be held back by mere rules, Kristin picked three words: joy, connection and balls. I immediately began thinking of what my word for 2011 would be. I really wanted to copy balls, but since I probably need to tone that part of me down, I decided it wasn’t the right choice this year. I liked the idea of this so much that I shared it with one of my cousins. She in turn pointed me in the direction of another person who wrote about choosing a word for the year and informed me she had done so herself the previous year. At this point, I was still just appreciating the idea of a word, but wasn’t fully committed to the idea. While still pondering the idea of finding the perfect word for me, I watched Eat, Love, Pray. Not my typical choice in movie, but this is where the universe started to beat me over the head. One of the themes of that movie is the main character trying to find her word. Okay universe, I’m listening.

I decided I didn’t want my word to be something that had to do with the outside me. I didn’t want to be “slim” or “diet” for a year. If I was going to do this, then I may as well challenge myself. Because nobody is a better competitor against myself than me. I pondered the word cake for a while, and then ice cream. And then realized I’d gotten off track and I should probably eat some real food. I decided to stop thinking about it and let the word come to me. It was already the end of January, and clearly I hadn’t been punished for not having chosen a word at midnight on the 31st. However long it took for me to settle on a word was how long it would take and that would be okay. Gee, this exercise has already taught me patience!

After days of mulling words over in my mind, I believe I’ve settled on “open.” This year I’m going to be open to getting out of my comfort zone, trying new things and meeting new people. Open to trying weird foods or going someplace new. Open to seeing what the universe is going to bring me in this new decade of life. I thought about adding austerity to the list, but that sounded about as much fun diet. So I’m sticking with open for the time being, with an option to supplement the list as the year progresses.

Open. It’ll be interesting to see what the year, and my word, brings.