Word Of The Year – 2022 edition! #WOTY

I had written a short and sweet happy new year post but to be honest given the last few years it felt….meh. I try to focus on the positives and I just wasn’t happy with how it felt.

Then whilst browsing the reader I came across Ritu’s lovely post on her #WOTY. It really made me smile and got me thinking about what my word of the year would be and what it would mean to me.

Take time to celebrate – even the little things.

So, if I was to pick one word to sum up last year for me it would probably be CHANGE.

• Changes at Work – Last year, during a redundancy period I was promoted to a new position. Whilst I am still very much trying to get to grips with that, I welcome the chance to hopefully make positive improvements to the company in future.
• Changes at Homes – My OH and I took on a renovation project, something we had never done before, and despite many hiccups along the way, at the end of November we finally got it complete (it felt like a Christmas miracle!).
• Changes to my Writing – I took over as host of the weekly #writephoto challenge.

However, despite that probably being the most accurate word to sum up my year, it is only through hindsight, none of these are things I would have predicted or even planned for in January. Life doesn’t half throwh in some surprises at times – haha. Still, on reflection, I am very grateful for the opportunities it has given me. 🧡

On to 2022, I think my word this year will be PLAN

• Planning for Health – the cliche new years resolution perhaps but I am planning to lose some weight this year and improve my fitness. I have a big family wedding coming up in Autumn and I would really like to at least feel good and not self-conscious about my body at the event. A few years ago now whilst I was on maternity, I think I was the happiest with my shape, size, figure. I was eating well and getting good exercise most days and doing a great variety of activities. Returning to being behind a desk for 8.5 hours a day has greatly hindered that, then covid, then a not-great diet whilst we were renovating, the spiral continued. So now to break the cycle!
  • I have food plans in place.
  • I am working on a weekly exercise plan.
  • I have joined a whatsapp group with friends all trying to achieve similar goals to keep motivated and on plan.

• Planning for Home – Hubby and I sat down on New Years eve and reviewed our finances and created a budget. We have a few big events coming up, some special holidays booked, and also a mortgage renewal due this year. So, financial it was important to create a plan that captured everything.

• Planning for Writing –
  • I am now looking at putting in a monthly writing schedule (Sara at heartbreathings has a useful download for this – here).
  • I have planned some of my posts already for the year. For those looking to do this, Marsha at WQWWC publishes her schedule ahead, so you can plan in some prompt responses – you can find this here for 2022.
  • I am hopefully going to have a monthly writing meet up with the writing group I joined.
  • I’ve also already planned a short break in London, to do some research for my new novel (fingers crossed).
  • I also plan to up my goodreads count. Last year, I played it safe with a low number and with the help of interspersing longer books with quickreads I smashed it. So, this year I am going for a book per week.

An hour of planning can save 10 hours of doing.

Dale Carnegie

So, Happy New Year to you all.

I’d love to hear any plans you may have for 2022.

I hope it is a happy, healthy & successful year for you all.

KL