I’ve heard of this erm…what would you call it?…A theory? A challenge? An idea? I’m not entirely sure, but I’ve heard of this thing before, where you choose a word to guide you for the coming year. It’s a word you go to if you’re stuck; not sure which decision or choice to make; to inspire you; to basically help you out when you’re not sure where to turn or what to do. I’ve previously thought this wasn’t really an idea for me – I’m too haphazard and never really know where I’m heading or what is going to be important to me in the months ahead. However, this December I took part in the Instagram challenge set by Emily Quinton at Makelight, in which she set us the task to plan our word for 2018. Surprisingly, it didn’t take me long to think of mine…
Whether or not you want to give this a go is entirely up to you; having not done this before I have no advice or experience to offer as to whether it helps, but to give you some inspiration if you’re still not quite sure what I’m on about, here are some words other people have chosen to guide them through the year:
(Names link to their instagram page) Valantina Jacome’s word is ‘Belief’ because the lack of it holds her back.
Rebecca Bullock’s word is ‘Dare’ from the saying ‘He who dares, wins’, she wants to dare herself to do more scary things.
Helen Highley’s word is ‘Rise’, inspired by a sunrise photo in Iceland and reminds her of the beauty and power all around us.
Katerina Simmons’ word is ‘Simple’ because she says she is terrible at making more work for herself and wants to keep things simple.
Other words were Learn, Focus, Presence, Budget, and People.
You’ve probably guessed from the photographs I’m using to illustrate this blog post that the word I chose is ‘Persevere’ and this is why: I have spent and entirely wasted too much time wondering if I should just give up. Career-wise, things are not going well for me – nor are all the related things I’m trying to pick it up again. For example, this blog; Instagram; Twitter; Facebook; newsletters etc – all numbers and views aren’t growing or leading to sales on Threads of a Fairytale or byHelenHobden. And the amount of times I’ve walked the dog whilst going over and over out loud the pros and cons of giving up on any of them is just ridiculous. It’s pointless because I never come up with a viable alternative! So all I can do is keep persevering and plodding on and looking for ways to do it better. Just keep swimming.
So I made the sign to put next to my laptop on my desk to remind myself that that’s what I’m doing. I mustn’t waste any more time pondering giving up. I’ve been there and done that too many times already, so don’t even bother. I’ve just got to keep positive and keep trying.
On a more cheery note, there is one thing that seems to be working, and that’s YouTube! I really didn’t expect that, but subscriber numbers are steadily increasing, and recent engagement in the comments has been brilliant. So maybe, of all the things I’ve tried, this might be the thing that ends up being successful! And if it continues to grow, then perhaps that will lead to the other things working out as well. There’s only one way to find out, and that’s to persevere.
Have you chosen a word to live by this year?
