New Year: My One Word for 2015 and Why I Can’t Leave 2014 Behind

In Korea people don’t stay up until midnight to ring in the New Year. Instead, they get up in the middle of the night and they hike a mountain. They climb through the dark, snowy pre-dawn hours and when they reach the top they stand with their faces to the sky to greet the first sunrise of the New Year.

What a contrast to how we in the West often enter the New Year – stumbling out of bed at noon, tired and quite possibly hungover. For many, January 1st is a day of recovery. We spend New Year’s Eve celebrating the ending of something and the beginning of a new thing. We bombard the internet with reflections on the previous year. Even the less introspective among us take a moment to declare the past year, “the best” or “the hardest” or “the craziest” year of their lives.

I can never bring myself to make those kinds of statements. Because I don’t believe a year can ever be just one thing. Life is never just one thing, and what is a year besides a microcosm of an entire life?

Elaine’s comment on my Year in Review post explained this perfectly. She said she was struck by “how every year is a little life – with birth, death, family, love, travel, new things, familiar things, difficulties and good friends all swirling through it.” I thought this was profound because of what it says about the year we’ve just lived and what it means for the year ahead.

2014 had a life that is both self-contained and part of a larger whole. Entering the New Year doesn’t mean we’ve finished with the old one. We can’t discard it like a worn-out pair of shoes. We carry our past years deep inside our bones. They make up the very DNA of our lives.

The person I was as a child is markedly different from the person I am today, but I could never say I’ve left her behind entirely. You never completely stop being the person you were at 8 or 18 or 28. You carry all of these selves inside of you and they shape who you become. In the same way, we each carry dozens of lives with us –the lives we lived in our previous years – and these lives become part of our future.

But carrying the past year with you doesn’t mean you have to be weighed down or shackled by it.

In the past, I’ve looked back on my previous year and made some promises. I’ve set goals for the year ahead that were largely lists of how I would do better, be better than I was the previous year. I used to think that doing this was a way of leaving the previous year behind, but maybe all that is is a way of letting the previous year enslave me.

I don’t think we have the choice to throw out the previous year or any year of our lives. But we do have a choice about how we let it shape our lives. I can either look at the previous year and allow my mistakes and disappointments and perfectionism drive me to guilt-ridden resolutions, or I can look at the previous year and simply embrace it all, both the proud moments and the parts I wish I could undo, thank God for them, and let them be part of my story.

This year, instead of making a list of resolutions, instead of thinking of all the ways I failed in the last year or all the things I want to do better, instead of making 2015 a giant to-do list, I’ve decided to join the many people I know who choose One Word. The idea of One Word is to get rid of your list and to choose just one word to focus on for a whole year. “One word that sums up who you want to be and how you want to live.”

I’ve been thinking about my word for several weeks. At first I thought about “Belief,” because it’s something I desperately want more of – in God, in myself, in the world. And then I thought about “Present,” the practice of being fully engaged where I am instead of constantly thinking of the next thing or the last thing. Both of these are important to me, but when I really considered what summed up who I want to be and how I want to live one word rose to the top. My word for this year is Wholehearted.

Wholehearted is about sincerity and commitment. For me this means authenticity in my life and my writing. It means commitment to continue my faith-wrestling and to asking sincere questions. Being Wholehearted is also a commitment to courage, compassion, and connection. It is the courage to be vulnerable despite the risk, the compassion to love other people well and to extend grace quickly, both to myself and to others, and the choice to develop genuine connections with others. Wholeheartedness means committing to being fully present, to showing up for every day of my life instead of checking out when things are hard or boring. It means engaging with Today and believing that every day is a gift. And Wholehearted means believing that I am worthy of love and belonging – not because there is anything especially great and deserving about me, but because we are all worthy of love and belonging and because we can’t fully accept love and belonging unless we believe we are worthy of it.

This year I want to step into the New Year with intention. I want to turn my face towards the sun and say, “I’m here. Whatever you have to offer, I am fully present and ready to receive it. The births and the deaths. The joys and the fears and the disappointments. The beauty and the brokenness. The faith and the doubt. The longing and the contentment. The adventure and the mundane.” May 2015 be a step on the journey towards Wholeheartedness.

Happy New Year.

 

Image Credit: Iamidaho at Deviantart.com

1,082 comments

    1. Thank you! I’m so glad you were inspired by this post. As a writer, that’s one of the coolest things to hear. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a lovely new year!

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  5. You have captured it into that one word! This morning I was thinking of almost the same thing. My word is Resolve (not really a “resolution”), but among one topmost thing i want to resolve is for “being at the present and being fully present” – and glad i have found the right word… “Wholehearted” …. Thanks!

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    1. Thank you! I’m so glad this post inspired you. My definition of wholeheartedness is influenced by Brene Brown’s TED talks about vulnerability and her book, Daring Greatly. If you are interested in hearing more about that concept I’d suggest you check her out! And I hope 2015 is a year marked by wholeheartedness for you! Happy New Year.

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  6. Brilliant way to start the new year. My word last year was trust. It encompassed a lot and i really did have to just trust in God during some hard times. All the best for this new year. X

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    1. Yes, Trust is such a hard one and so important. It takes so much pressure off of us when we are able to trust that God is taking care of the things we can’t. It can really help us live fully in the moment instead of worrying about things that may or may not happen and things that we usually don’t have control over anyway. I’m glad you enjoyed this post. Blessings on your new year!

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  8. Pingback: The Moments Between | The Perpetual Day

  11. Reblogged this on Life, there's no app for that and commented:
    I just read this really inspirational post. I won’t spoil it because I would really like you to read it, but I would like to state that my one word for 2015 is STRENGTH. I really want to build myself, strengthen myself, as a Christian, a woman, a mother, a wife, a sister, a daughter, and as a friend. I want to build on my relationships with my loved ones and focus on rebuilding my relationship with God. To do this I need strength.

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  14. I never thought of it like that. It is a valid point though, we should not let our regrets control and drive us. That’s not fair because all we end up with is more regret when we don’t meet our goal. Because, who really meets the goal? Perhaps years are not meant to be summed up, but remembered. Not overanalyzed, but not forgotten. We can learn from our mistakes. But our mistakes do not dictate us. It’s late, but happy new year!

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    1. Exactly. I don’t mean that we can’t try to learn from our mistakes and do better, but so often when we think about New Year’s Resolutions we say, “Ok, what did I really screw up and how can I be better this year” and then we make this huge list that’s both holding our failures over our heads and is setting us up to fail again. I think it’s so much more important to focus on one thing that will develop your heart, your spirit, your character, rather than trying to change a lot of external things. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I’m glad you appreciated this post. And Happy New Year to you, too!

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  17. Well said! I know for myself intentionality is something I am striving for. I want to be intentional with everything I do from enjoying every blessing and lesson life brings, being intentional with my writing, in my walk with God and the love I have for my brothers and sisters. Happy New Year. 🙂

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    1. YES! I think intentionality is a huge part of making the most of our one beautiful life and living it to the fullest every day. It’s so easy to let some of life’s great moments pass us by just because we aren’t paying attention and making purposeful choices. Good lives happen ON PURPOSE. Blessings on your year of intentionality! Thanks for sharing.

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  22. This is a wonderful perspective on how past years experiences remain with us. Every equinox/solstice (as similar to New Years) is a time of change and I use this as a means of reflection and manifestation. I let go of the past and focus on my own best interests. For 2015 it’s a continuation of putting things into action.

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    1. That’s a cool idea for the solstice and equinox. A good way to keep that reflection and renewal from just being a one-day-a-year thing. Thanks for your thoughts. I’m glad you enjoyed this post! Happy New Year!

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    1. Thanks, I’m glad you appreciated it! To be fair, younger Koreans do still stay out late and there are fireworks some places, but many people still observe the sunrise tradition. But yes, there’s a lot to learn from different cultures. Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!

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    1. That’s so cool! What a great way of taking a day that is usually all about us and making it about other people. What an awesome idea! I’m so glad you liked this post. Hope you have a wonderful birthday! 🙂

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  29. My mother used to open the back door just before midnight to let the old year out of the house. The front door was opened after the clock struck midnight to let the New Year in. I prefer to see the sun come up on a new year – awesome. Thanks for your thoughts. Meg

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    1. Thanks, Meg. That’s cute about letting the old year out and the new year in, but I agree, I think there’s something powerful about the sunrise. Thanks for sharing! And Happy New Year!

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    1. Yes, I do believe that. Of course, we can change and we can grow and we can improve, but we can’t let go of our personality and experience and the things that have brought us to where we are now. Thanks for reading and for sharing your thoughts!

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  44. Reblogged this on and commented:
    As a teenager, the days before new year is pretty great. Parties go on and you meet friends and family. You meet new friends and you share what great moments you had throughout the year with you friends and family. All mistakes you have made are the past but what teenagers need to remember is they are still there and will come back to haunt you. Being responsible and doing well in school will help you in the long run and over the years to come you will have better new years. If you have many things you regret and many bad things you have done then take a new years or if your a parent and take your son or daughter and let them unwind their stories and get them on the right path. My dad did is to me one year and that next day of the new year I felt I changed and was becoming a whole better person and I’ve been on a track to have a great education and get a well payed job that I like.

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    1. “Leap into love” – that is such a great image. I’ve always thought “fall in love” was such an interesting phrase because it connotes an accident. Whereas leaping into love is a very intentional and passionate action. Thanks so much for reading and sharing. I hope you continue to find inspiration here! 🙂 Happy New Year!

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  47. Pingback: New Year: My One Word for 2015 and Why I Can’t Leave 2014 Behind | blissfulravings

  50. “It means commitment to continue my faith-wrestling and to asking sincere questions.” A friend of mine asked me today, “What would our Prophet say?” It was regarding the usual greed and hypocrisy of Consumerism… I though about it, and it hit me–our Prophet would say the same: “Love thy neighbor.” But nowadays we hardly even know our neighbors. We hardly know ourselves. So maybe it would be good to start with “Know thyself.” Thanks for posting this article! It’s very inspiring. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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    1. I’m so glad this post was inspiring to you! As a writer, that’s one of the highest compliments someone could give me. Thank you for reading and I hope this year is marked with new understanding of what it means to love your neighbor.Happy New Year to you too!

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