Word of the Year: Pride

My word of the year this year was Pride. Like my journey with Trust last year, I got better acquainted with (healthy) pride and how it feels in my body. I can be proud of myself and my accomplishments without being in competition with anyone else, and without judging anyone else. It feels like I've reclaimed something that comes naturally to young children, "Look what I did!" and that feels healing. Pride seems to be both an emotion and a skill, and even a thing in itself, as in, abruptly losing my job earlier this year hurt my pride.

Posting something I'm proud of every day for Pride Month turned out to be surprisingly fun. I recommend it!

And maybe I'll keep that permission to post things I'm proud of. One last one for 2024 - I'm proud of keeping my commitment to post every day in December, even when it felt like a strain.

My word for 2025 is Love. I chose Pride as a counterweight to feeling a lot of shame. While it's good to notice what I'm proud of as well as what I'm ashamed of, I noticed during the year that pride isn't an antidote to shame - love is. When I'm flinching about something in the past that brings shame, it helps to send love back to that younger self. I'm noticing that some of the shame comes from perfectionism, since it feels like any mistake is terrible.

It feels vulnerable to choose Love as a word to focus on and talk about. Of course I want all sorts of love in my life, to give and receive, and it sounds wonderful to bring in more love and overall get to know it better. And a positive romantic relationship would be nice if that were to happen... While love feels like an antidote to shame, there's also a lot of shame in doing it wrong, loving too much or not enough or the wrong way or the wrong people.

Once again I am committing to going gently and slowly with this one.

( full word of the year list )