Since 2009, my friend Alece has challenged people to approach the new year with one word, with the challenge to “Go where it takes you. Be who it makes you.” From the One Word website:

“Forget New Year’s Resolutions. Scrap that long list of goals you won’t remember a few weeks from now anyway! Choose just one word. One word you can focus on every day, all year long… One word that sums up who you want to be or how you want to live.

It will take intentionality and commitment, but if you let it, your one word will shape not only your year, but also you. It will become the compass that directs your decisions and guides your steps.”

You can find out and join the One Word tribe HERE. In the meantime, I wanted to share my 2018 word: CONNECT.

In the first year following my divorce I decided I was not going to wallow in sorrow and shame and despair. So I took big bites out of life and let the juices drip down my chin. To continue the metaphor, by the end of that first year I began to see that my proverbial eyes were bigger than my proverbial stomach. I may have overcompensated just a tad.

In the second year, I went inward almost to a fault. I disconnected from many things — organizations, people, life. But, I did some things right, including using my inward focus to drop 30 pounds, get healthy, and pursue my love of writing. But I also lost many relationships and probably didn’t handle those disconnections very well.