My 3 Words for 2024
Happy 2024! We’ve made it through the first week of the new year (well, five days at least).
Going into 2024 feels like one big, deep exhale.
2023 was hard. It was fun and memorable for so many reasons, but it was also really hard. There were the typical adjustments of learning how to be a mom and care for a baby, along with the learning curve of how to do that while also working full-time. There were also lots of medical appointments, bloodwork, tests, and more tests. An autoimmune disease diagnosis, an intense surgery with a months-long recovery and lifelong effects. There were the everyday struggles and joys of living life; milestones, memories, challenges, and life changes. There were highs and lows. There was joy and laughter and tears of both joy and stress. There was… a lot.
I feel hopeful and excited for the year ahead. Personally, entering 2024, I feel balanced, confident, and “right where I’m supposed to be” in my roles as a wife, mother, friend, coworker, manager, daughter and sister.
2024 feels optimistic. I love any opportunity for a fresh start, a new challenge, and a clean slate. Although I believe you can use any day as “Day 1,” a new calendar year is a great opportunity to reassess your goals, dream for the future, and start fresh.
If you’ve been around here for a minute, you know that I don’t typically make New Year’s Resolutions; but rather, I choose three words as my words of the year. Here are my words for 2024.
Progress
“Progress, not perfection.” It’s a short, well-known phrase that I’ve recently taken to heart. I’m a Type A, Enneagram 1, recovering perfectionist, lover of order, Monica Geller. However you’d like to label it, I enjoy structure, routines, and systems. I like when things are predictable and can be neatly categorized into (ideally) to-do lists so I know exactly what to do and where to go next.
OBVIOUSLY that is not how life works. And in case I didn’t know that already, 2023 was a big “Hello, welcome to the year where you will pivot literally every day! Most likely 10x a day, and that’s on a good day.” In 2023, I was pulled and pushed out of my comfort zone and learned how to pivot (Pivot! Pivot!) quite often. “Have a plan but be prepared to not have a plan” was a sentence I lived by. And if I’m being honest with myself, it was a much-needed change. Flexibility has never been my strong suit, but in 2023, God patiently taught me the value and importance of flexibility in every way, shape, and form.
So in 2024, Progress is what I’ll aim for. Progress in my reading goal, habits, workouts, work goals, home projects, relationships. Progress mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Focusing on the journey, rather than the “destination” (cliche, but true). To me, progress is not an end goal or something to check off, and that’s exactly why I chose it.
Here
Last year, one word I chose was “Present.” “Here” is similar, but also a mindset. God has placed me HERE in this place for a reason. What will I do with that? I want to stay present and “here” this year. Less distraction, more intention. Less comparison, more joy. My prayer for 2024 is that I’ll dwell in the “here” — not in the “there” or wondering/worrying what the future may bring — because here is where God placed me.
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” — Matthew 6:34
Grace
By reading the first two words, this one may not come as a surprise. I yearn to give myself, and others, grace more often in 2024. How thankful I am that God gives me grace every day, even though I don’t deserve it. He forgives, He loves, and He bestows grace and mercy on us. Jesus’ grace is sufficient for us.
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” — 2 Corinthians 12:9-10