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Word of the Year: Respect
Dec. 31st, 2021 04:10 pmI've enjoyed having Respect as my word of the year, despite my initial reservations.
I've stepped into more fully expecting respect, as a person and as someone who has lived over half a century (!) and learned a thing or two along the way. I left a folk dance group I had been a central part of for 15 years because it wasn't working for me anymore. It's complicated of course, but it could be summarized as I wasn't being treated with respect.
The heat pump for my bedroom was part of respecting my needs. I'm keeping it at its lowest setting, 61F, but it's still a vast improvement over shivering myself to sleep under a big pile of blankets. It's hard to believe I did that for 16 winters, but I tell myself it gave the heat pump technology a chance to improve. I'm still trying to balance my need for comfort with the planetary need for all of us to use less energy.
After a couple of awkward sessions with new bodywork clients earlier in the year, I realized that everyone is traumatized one way or another these days, and I needed to add a filter for people who are a good fit, will benefit from my work, and will treat me like a person. I'm happy with how my Is This You page turned out, and it does seem to be working well as a filter.
I've also gotten firmer about telling people when I don't think it's a good fit, whether that's because of fragrance use, issues that are too big for my scope of practice, or too many risks around Covid. As I write, I'm noticing that I'm proud of that. It's a hard thing to do, disappoint someone who's hoping to find what they need. It's easier to be a chameleon, "Sure, I can work with that!" than to stand firm against someone's push to be what they want instead of who I am.
I made it a practice to express my respect for people and their skills, and watched recipients light up. It's not something I had thought of putting into words before. I already use those important three little words, "You were right," whenever they apply, but sharing my respect takes that to another level. Those of us struggling to be the best humans we can be need to hear about our successes every so often.
My word for 2022 is Home. It's something I think about all the time, so maybe something can shift if I make it an official theme. ( City, house, music )
For future reference, I also considered Comfort and Rest.
( full word of the year list )
I've stepped into more fully expecting respect, as a person and as someone who has lived over half a century (!) and learned a thing or two along the way. I left a folk dance group I had been a central part of for 15 years because it wasn't working for me anymore. It's complicated of course, but it could be summarized as I wasn't being treated with respect.
The heat pump for my bedroom was part of respecting my needs. I'm keeping it at its lowest setting, 61F, but it's still a vast improvement over shivering myself to sleep under a big pile of blankets. It's hard to believe I did that for 16 winters, but I tell myself it gave the heat pump technology a chance to improve. I'm still trying to balance my need for comfort with the planetary need for all of us to use less energy.
After a couple of awkward sessions with new bodywork clients earlier in the year, I realized that everyone is traumatized one way or another these days, and I needed to add a filter for people who are a good fit, will benefit from my work, and will treat me like a person. I'm happy with how my Is This You page turned out, and it does seem to be working well as a filter.
I've also gotten firmer about telling people when I don't think it's a good fit, whether that's because of fragrance use, issues that are too big for my scope of practice, or too many risks around Covid. As I write, I'm noticing that I'm proud of that. It's a hard thing to do, disappoint someone who's hoping to find what they need. It's easier to be a chameleon, "Sure, I can work with that!" than to stand firm against someone's push to be what they want instead of who I am.
I made it a practice to express my respect for people and their skills, and watched recipients light up. It's not something I had thought of putting into words before. I already use those important three little words, "You were right," whenever they apply, but sharing my respect takes that to another level. Those of us struggling to be the best humans we can be need to hear about our successes every so often.
My word for 2022 is Home. It's something I think about all the time, so maybe something can shift if I make it an official theme. ( City, house, music )
For future reference, I also considered Comfort and Rest.
( full word of the year list )
