How do you follow a year like 2020? Really you may not want to because it feels like asking for trouble or praying for patience. I could fill books and blogs and my therapists note pad with tales of all the mess contained in 2020. I’m not even talking about the chaos that reigned in public… this is just me saying 2020 was my own personal hot mess express. 

So because of this I wanted 2021 to really be something phenomenal. In the face of everything 2020 threw at me I remained steadfast and lived out my word… UNSTOPPABLE. Now I was to continue my own personal growth and chase after those things that I’ve always wanted. As I was thinking and praying for guidance in this year’s word I kept coming back to images and stories about how Everest was always an unclimbable summit. Technically speaking you are dying the whole climb and everything should stop you from reaching the top. So how do people get up there? Oxygen, sure. Sherpa, yep. Technological advances in equipment, absolutely. But none of that keeps your feet moving when you are exhausted, unable to breathe and your body is destroying itself. What keeps you going is passion, willpower, faith, hope and love for what you are doing. So 2021 is my Everest. I’m chasing unclimbable peaks this year… one foot in front of the other. 

I also chose the word Jesus because I know without him I am nothing and through him all Everests can be climbed. I’m going to be spending this year doing a study of Jesus so that I can know him better, become better and find more of who I was created to be. 

Everest and Jesus.. 2021 here I come!

2020 UNSTOPPABLE 

Why unstoppable? Because I am consistently putting up barriers in my own way. Because I don’t believe in myself the way I should. Because others question my sanity when I talk about the changes I will make in the world and the long term goals I have. Because I am working full time, in a graduate program, I will soon be doing internships hours for school, I’m a wife and Mother and chaos reigns… always.

So this year I will strive not to get in my own way, let doubt overtake me, allow chaos to break me down or the words of others prevent me from all the things I am created to do and be.

In 2020 I will be UNSTOPPABLE.

This is what I wrote before living 2020 as “Unstoppable”. I’ve never been more proud of myself living out a word than this year. We all know the year 2020 was… rough… but even when I wanted to quit and give up and hide. I didn’t.

2007 Imagine

2008 PASSION

2009 Encourage

2010  Forethought

2011  Faith

2012  Embrace Change

2013 New

2014 Awesome

2015 Inspire

2016 Intentional

2017 Consistent

2018 Perspective

2019 BOLD

Here’s some honesty for you… I know I chose these words and each year I did my best to live them out but I also know that up until April of 2016 I was living life wrapped tightly in the arms of addiction and alcoholism. It’s interesting for me now to look back and see that my word for 2016 was “Intentional”. I had no thought of getting clean and sober when the year began but on April 6th, 2016 I went into rehab. Hardest but best choice I’ve ever made.

“Consistent” in 2017 was what I surrounded my recovery on. Everything I did was all about maintaining consistency and recovery.

“Perspective” in 2018 mean that I was solid in my consistent recovery life and now I was spending 2018 trying to sort out my next steps in life.

“Bold” was huge for me. 2019 was the year I jumped head first into my career in behavioral health, started my Master in Social Work an really started chasing the dreams I’ve always had of changing the world.

2004 Spread Hope

I know I know… this is two words but they go in tandom with each other. I couldn’t just use “spread” without having to offer an explanation as to what I’m working on spreading. On the flip side I couldn’t use “hope” because my goals wasn’t for me to experience hope but rather to help others find hope. This was a beautiful year because I learned the power of positive perspectives and how important it can be to have someone in your life that can hold on to hope or carry hope when you just can’t see it. 

2005 Learn

This year I wanted to focus on learning because I felt very lost in life. I wasn’t sure what I wanted, who I was, who I needed to be or anything of that nature. Living out “learn” gave me the ability to see every situation as an opportunity to learn and discover myself and the world around me. It was 365 days of growth which was uncomfortable but beyond what I could have ever asked for. 

2006 Adventure

I feel like this word is very self explanatory. 2006 started out exciting as I was pregnant with our son Hank and I knew there would be so many adventures in the days to come. What I didn’t anticipate was that our son would be stillborn at 37 weeks gestation and the adventures I ended up experiencing were extremely painful, scary and devastating. They say time heals all wounds but I spent years painfully wounded before any healing came. 2006 was indeed an adventure.