Let Your “Word” Help Create Your World in 2024
“Words create worlds.” – Attributed to many. “Worlds create words.” – Me
I believe words matter. Apparently, so do the many others who, as with me, make one of their New Year’s rituals to pick their “word for the year.” This is a word, short phrase, or quote that represents a personal and/or professional aspiration that will serve as an inspiration, motivation, guide, anchor, or “theme” for the upcoming year. Mine has traditionally been a “made-up” word, often a combination of words, that energizes me and serves as a compass to help keep me aligned with my stated priorities … it helps me “create my world” for the year.
Indeed, words are symbols for thoughts and ideas, and we personalize them according to the meaning we associate with them. One of my favorite books for 2023 was The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig, which is described as a compendium of invented words that aims to fill holes in our language by giving names to emotions we all feel but don't have a word for. Words such as sonder, chrysalism, scabulous, and dystoria are now part of my way of understanding my emotional world. This year the folks at Merriam-Webster added 690 "new words" (or new definitions of previously used words) to their dictionary, many of which we had been already using collectively, such as hallucination, doomscroll, and prosocial. In these cases, the world we are creating helped necessitate the need for new words to describe it, and by creating a commonly accepted meaning, these allow for us to more effectively communicate with each other.
In the past 5 years, my self-created words have been “zilience,” “reslove,” “cor,” “bemusedament,” and this past year, “rēpiphany.” My understanding of rēpiphany helped reawaken my awareness to the many “Holy moments” in my life, reminded me that my life is part of something much larger, and inspired me to show up as my “better self” more often. My word for this year will be awepique, and next week I’ll share more as to what that word means to me and how it will help frame my world for 2024.
How about you? What might be the word or words to help you frame your year – or perhaps for you it’s a picture, quote, song, or poem (or all of the above!). Consider picking one or more and sharing their meaning with those close to you, including your PeerRx partner. I’ve found that doing so is great fun, can provide you insights into your psyche, and by inviting others into the conversation, can supercharge your intention by providing some encouragement and accountability around it.
Looking back one year from now, what kind of world do you want to have helped create in 2024? Well, it can all start with just one word. Why not give it a try ….