Courage: My Word for 2025
Do you pick a word of the year? This will be my third year choosing a word and it is always an interesting process that brings up a lot of feelings. I generally look forward to the new year. The winter solstice has passed and the days are starting to get longer, even if we are heading into the coldest and snowiest months here in Colorado. So after the holidays and when it is time to get back into the swing of things at my day job, I am always feeling excited. I’m hopeful for a new year, new experiences, new opportunities. My excitement is also often paired with a dose of insecurity and imposter syndrome, especially as I build my art practice and art business one tiny piece at a time while working full time. I have thoughts such as:
Is this art thing a useful way to spend my time?
Am I even good enough?
Will it ever come to anything?
Is it worth it?
Despite the insecurities, my answers to those questions eventually get to a yes. If I stopped pursuing art, if I stop trying to see if I can turn it into a business, even if it takes me until I’m 40 or 50 or longer, I think I would regret it and always wonder what if. And to be honest, I’m really enjoying what I am doing. I might have to get up a little earlier, or spend some of my weekend writing a blog post, or struggle on my computer to get a pattern to look the way I want it to, but so far I am enjoying it.
Courage to me is doing something daring, no matter how afraid, insecure, intimidated, alone, unworthy, incapable, ridiculed or whatever other paralyzing emotion you might feel. Courage is taking action....no matter what. So you're afraid? Be afraid. Be scared silly to the point you're trembling and nauseous, but do it anyway!”
― Richelle E. Goodrich, Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, and Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
I start thinking about a word of the year in December. For me, my word is supposed to be like a north star that helps guide the decisions I make throughout the year. It should also relate to the goals I am setting for myself in the new year. In 2024, I chose multiple words for my year: growth, strength, and friends. The word growth was for my art practice. I wanted to grow in my skills and abilities. I wanted to be put into rooms with people who were working towards the same goals I was. Perhaps the biggest part of my growth journey was taking the Immersion Surface Design course, which was a crash course in Adobe Illustrator and designing patterns for products.
Choosing a word of the year comes in the middle of my annual planning processes. Annual planning for me, when I have a full time job, an active lifestyle, and important relationships like my marriage, is trying to find the balance between dreaming big and setting ambitious goals, while recognizing what is reasonable. To help with this process, I print out My Yearly Plan guide, a 14 page workbook that helps me reflect on the year, celebrate my successes, and identify areas where I struggled and or fell short of a goal in some way. Then I start to brainstorm all of the things I could accomplish in the coming year. With my reflection complete and my ideas out of my head and on paper, I add potential deadlines and make lists of the smaller steps that I will need to take to accomplish larger goals. Then I think about how I want to feel in the coming year. How I want to feel is an important part of identifying those goals that will have the most impact. My art practice and my art business may grow at a slower pace as a result, but I hope it means I am building something that is sustainable in the long term. I’m still in a period of hustle, but there is a fine line between hustle and burnout.
With my past accomplishments, goals, and sense of how I want to feel floating around in my head, I start to brainstorm words that reflect the qualities or mindset I will need to help get there. I often will google “words of the year” or “values” to find lists that I can browse through. From here I will write a few down that seem to resonate the most, but I do not commit to anything. My annual planning process in preparation for 2025 took a little over a month. The longer I sit with my list of potential words, the more one word will seem to make its way to the top of the list.
Some of my goals for 2025 include:
Create a new fabric collection for Spoonflower.
Redesign my website to reflect who I am as an artist and creator today.
Build out my Etsy shop and experiment with different artwork and products.
Build out my artist network and connect with my local art community through things like memberships and opportunities to show my work in person.
As I mull these goals over and build out their next steps, I thought about what I am going to need more than anything to accomplish these goals in 2025. The word that I kept coming back to was courage.
courage (noun) the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English corage, from Old French, equivalent to cuer “heart” (from Latin cor; heart ) + -age -age
As I think about all of the things I want to accomplish next year, I am already feeling a bit anxious and unsure of myself. I worry about having the confidence to do what I need to do. All of my goals for 2025 have something in common. They are going to require me to:
Try more things.
Show my art more than I ever have in the past.
Show up in person, both online and offline.
Experiment.
Fail and fail often as I find out what works best for me.
It’s not your job to like me, it’s mine.
– Byron Katie
To overcome the insecurity and vulnerability I am already starting to feel, I know that I am going to need all the courage I can muster. If I am letting the idea of courage to guide my year, these are the things I will be doing and considering:
My first response to something will be: why not? rather than no.
When I have an idea or an opportunity, I will consider the best possible outcome first before I start to think about all of the ways something could go wrong.
I will cultivate a growth mindset, where I am not afraid of not having all of the answers yet. I just need to take the next logical step, even if it is the tiniest step in the world.
I will seek out new opportunities, like a new group of people, applying for an exhibit, or participating in a market.
I will see experimentation as an invaluable part of my art process and give myself time and space to create in new and different ways.
I give myself permission to fail a lot. Ugly paintings, failed Etsy listings, unhappy customers,
I am willing to sacrifice some money on an idea that may not work.
I give myself permission to follow my gut. To see an idea as far as I believe it can go, and to quit when it no longer resonates with me.
I will dream up what seem like impossible goals to achieve because they will force me to grow in ways I cannot even imagine.
I will have the courage to dream big.
The new year is here and I am hoping to make the most of it.
Have you chosen your word of the year yet?
What is it?
How are you hoping it will guide your year?
