Inspiration for Busy Families

What is Your Word of the Year?

By Lisa Payne

When a new year begins, it feels cleansing. It feels hopeful. It’s a fresh start. We let go of what wasn’t good in the prior year and set goals for the new one. While 2020 wasn’t exactly the best year for many, there were some silver linings that I am going to hold onto and cherish. All of the extra time I got to spend with my kids and husband is at the top of that list.

As an alternative or in addition to setting goals, one thing many people do is to pick a word for the year. Something to keep you focused in a direction you desire. Maybe you want to be on your phone less and talk with your kids more, so your word would be “present.” Or perhaps you’d like to be more optimistic and thankful so you pick the word “gratitude.” There are so many words to choose from. If you sit quietly long enough and listen to your heart, your word will become very clear.

This year my word is “vision.” I have a dear friend Dave who I grew up with in Minnesota and went to school with who recently lost his sight. During a long surgery in September to remove a tumor that was on his vertebrae, lack of oxygen to his optic nerves during the surgery caused him to wake up blind.

While this turn of events would cause most of us to downward spiral pretty quickly, he and his wife have stayed two of the most optimistic people I know. Their updates are always cheerful, grateful, and full of hope. I am inspired by them beyond words. And do you know the most ironic part of this story? Dave has spent the past 33 years religiously caring for our blind friend Ricardo who lost his vision the last day of our junior year of high school in a car accident. Dave now feels ahead of the game knowing the techniques of being blind. And he optimistically tells us how he will continue to live his life doing everything he loves, now with other people driving the boat.

Knowing how quickly life can take a sharp turn, my word of the year is dear to my heart. I want to see everything. I am pausing much more often to see the beauty in this world. The array of colors in flowers and in the sunsets. The expression on peoples faces and what their eyes are telling me. My kids growing and changing before my eyes. To watch the milk spill and feel grateful I can see to help clean it up instead of feeling irritated at the mess. To truly see when something is not about me and to give all I have to the other person. I want to see it all and never take another day of having vision for granted.

Helen Keller has many uplifting quotes, and this is one of my favorites. “The only thing worse than being blind is having vision but no sight.”

May your word of the year provide all of the sight you need to create your dreams in this New Year.