2021 marked my first ever tattoo. A great reminder about who I am and what matters to me.
A quick Google search finds that over 80% of New Year’s Resolutions fail by February. As someone who spent decades carefully crafting big, lofty goals about magically transcending into a new and improved version of myself come January 1, I can personally attest to that failure rate.
Don’t get me wrong: I love goal setting. I live for it. For me, though, I’ve learned that I need to set small, realistic goals with a timeframe and achievable action steps. I really believe success breeds success. In other words, boring but effective. Occasionally lofty, but always achievable. And rarely on January 1.
For me, this method works better. It prevents me from spending the end of December and January focusing on why I’m not good enough and how I need to become a new human in the new year, only to fail. Sure, New Year, New You is a great slogan. But, at some point, I recognized that the old or current me is more than enough.
I think the New Year is a fabulous time to take a moment to take a moment to reflect and set an intention for the coming year. For me, this intention often translates into a mantra. A simple statement or word that I repeat to myself when I’m at a crossroads. I find that simple reminder can really alter the direction I go. It reminds me of who I am at the core and what I need right now to achieve the goals I’m pursuing.
I started doing this a few years ago when I attended a personal development conference with about 10,000 women. I watched in awe as women surrounding me screamed words of power like mogul, fearless, and leader. My mantra that year–Grace. To quit letting perfection get in the way of progress. In that moment surrounded by girl-bosses, it sounded weak. Off-key. But, a few months later when COVID-19 hit, it’d be the word that’d carry me over and over again as I navigated the complexities of a global pandemic. I still use it today when I find my inner self berating me for being, well, human.
Last year, I took stock again. While grace continues to guide me, I added another word: Sisu. As a Finlander, this word which means “stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience and hardiness” literally embodies what I want to drive my decisions and goals in life. So much so, that I inked it on my wrist.
Perhaps it is the writer in me, but words have power. I find this simple word can change the narrative in my head. It can guide me, dissuade me, empower me to say yes or no, in an instant. It reminds me of my why and forces me to focus inward versus outward. Not bad for a few four letter words.
But, don’t just take my word for it. Olympian superstar Kara Goucher’s a believer as well. In her book Strong, she designates a whole chapter to mantras and the value they bring her when running. In Strong, Goucher says, “Your mantra is something that you will hold on to for a long period of time. It is your mission statement.” It is a tool Goucher used to fuel her way across the finish line because even running champions face self-doubt.
For me, 2021 marked a year of transition for me after losing my dad. Caretaking for him for over a decade had consumed a lot of space in my life. I suddenly found myself with a huge void, both in my life and in my calendar. I spent the year giving myself plenty of space and grace exploring how I want this next chapter in my life to look. While Sisu is inked permanently on my wrist, I entered 2022 with the word enough on my mind. This doesn’t mean I don’t have ambitious goals or dreams. But, it does mean that in 2022, I want to appreciate what I have and who I am. That I am in fact enough.
Mine was “enough” two years ago, and last year it was “no.” I read up and really dove into how to say no without guilt, and how to say no in a way that prevents others from swaying you into a yes. This year, my word is “present.” I want to enjoy the moment more, not be distracted or thinking of the next move. Happy New Year!
My mantra this year is consistency. With the phrase “you can’t be interested and inconsistent” running through my head as well. I have big for me challenges this year and the only way I’ll achieve them is consistency.
Beautiful story, and thank you so much for introducing me to this powerful word! Sisu: I will definitely remember it. I agree with everything you so eloquently wrote. My word for the year is ‘change’. I thought about it a lot, and didn’t want something to reflect my present state as ‘not good enough’. But I settled on change to remind myself that there are small habits and patterns that I’ve been holding on to for years that I do truly want to change: about sleep, about some ‘numbing out’ things that I do to procrastinate, about that extra glass of wine that I don’t need. Regardless of our mantra or word, I love your reminder of how powerful they can be. Thank you!
Sisu is such a cool word. My word this year is “Savor”. I want to take the time for whatever I am doing to really focus on it and take it in. Whether being with my family or friends, or doing a workout, focus on taking in and really feeling and experiencing the fullest of what I am doing.
This is my word this year too! I have enough of everything! I am also enough. There are so many ways this word can be interpreted that I’m going to enjoy exploring them all this year!
My word for 2022 is discipline. It is inspired by the phrase “excellence is a journey, discipline is the vehicle.” Often I find myself “going through the motions” mindlessly in things in life. The word actually came to me as I was swimming laps one morning in December. I went in with no “purpose” for my swim and was feeling like I had no idea what I wanted to accomplish during that session. I want to become a better swimmer – I am a very new swimmer as I just started in 2021 when injury sidelined me from running as much (at all for a bit). As I thought and thought on the word through the remainder of my laps I thought about all the areas of life where I need to find more discipline to get to the goals I have in mind (financial, work, family, home, service….) Anyhow, I am setting the stage for many areas of my life where I need to gain discipline – and especially those areas that I think it is important to model to those in my life that are watching :)
My word for 2022 is love. Love God, love others, love self…love the moment I’m in.
ENOUGH is my word of the year for 2022 as well!! Last year was space, which was a great one. With enough, I am imagining a few different meanings of the word. One is that I am enough, that I do enough, that I have enough, but the other category has to do with limits and boundaries as in I have had enough, or that’s enough.
I’ve been thinking about this for the last couple of days, and I keep coming back to CALM. I want to regularly quiet my mind, take time to breathe and walk through this year as calm as possible. Will I start a regular meditation practice? Probably not, but I will aim to seek quiet moments, go to bed early to read a good book, take a long soak in the bathtub, and hit the trails for some of my long runs.
[…] first blog post for Another Mother Runner came out this month. It highlighted why New Year’s resolutions don’t work in my world but how […]