Do you think of a theme or a word for each year? It’s a great exercise someone recently mentioned to me. I’ve decided that this year’s theme for me is evolution. It’s one of my core words anyway and it feels appropriate for this year as well.
One of my favorite sayings is “Life is change. Change is constant. Growth is optional.” I’ve lived by this for many years now. I believe that life happens FOR us not TO us. When we can make this mental shift, we drop the victim mentality and start to think that the Universe has our back, even through the challenges and tough times, which if you are breathing, you WILL have! It’s a part of the human experience.
It is often through the toughest times that we can grow and evolve the most. It somehow forces us to dig deep inside and find what we need to make it through the challenges. At least that has been my experience.
So choosing growth, choosing to evolve, and leaning into trust that things are going to work out for you in the long run, makes it possible to be strong and resilient through whatever life may throw your way. We ALL have an inner core strength of courage and those difficult times helps you to grow.
Growth of course can happen in good times as well. It seems like when you are reaching for goals, dreams, and desires that are outside of your comfort zone, you learn to expand your comfort zone to make it bigger. And guess, what? It stays there!
Two years ago when I released my personal story, 1,352 Days, I ended up all over the media in Sweden. I was on radio and TV shows, even LIVE TV, doing interviews in Swedish (holy cow!! that was a HUGE stretch for me!). For most of the interviews, I was pretty calm inside and the reason is because I was (and still am) very purpose driven. I knew that I had a message to share and get out into the world and if I could use my personal story of immense challenges to inspire others, and to share that no matter what happens, choose love over fear, then I was willing to expand my comfort zone as far as I needed. That was a year of huge evolution to me.
I believe that our world is going through a HUGE evolution right now as well. It seems like so many people I know are having to deal with their emotional baggage, issues that they might not have dealt with or wanted to deal with. But now is the time for each of us to do the internal clearing and healing. Watching what has happened with the #MeToo movement all over the world is both bringing up issues and (hopefully) healing for those who have experienced any sort of harassment.
It is time for us to embrace the changes, to consciously create the world we want to live in, and to take our power back—both individually and collectively. Together we are stronger. We have the opportunity to step into our best selves and we are evolving.
So what is your word for 2018?