A Guide for the New Year

It’s the season of change. Soon, you will write your name in a new planner and crease down the spine of its crisp, clean pages. Maybe you’ll hang a new calendar on the wall, or simply watch as your smartphone or computer displays “2025.”

The beginning of the New Year gives us pause to consider the clean slate before us. We’ve packed away the past 12 months and have 12 fresh, unblemished ones waiting for us to create memories and write new chapters of our story.

This presents us with a choice. We can drift along, allowing the current to take us to whatever shorelines might be waiting at the end of 2025. Or we can find a North Star that will help us navigate the months ahead and exercise some control over our journey.

If you know some of my story, you know that I deal with a good bit of uncertainty (you’ll find me online next year promoting Rare Disease Day, February 28). In my desire to be intentional and strategic — as much as possible — about the unfolding of my life, I’ve found it helpful to identify a theme for a New Year. Often, this can be summarized in one word.

There’s nothing magical about proclaiming, “my word of the year is…” but it does focus your mind on accomplishing goals in keeping with that theme. It provides a filter through which to make decisions that are most in keeping with your focus.
Your potential word of the year might be:

• Health
• Free Time
• Relationships
• Nature
• Finances
• Spirituality

Once I identify my word of the year, I find it helpful to elaborate on the theme. I write my thoughts on how it might play out in my life. How can I make health a priority, from the food choices I make to the physical activities I choose? If relationships are my North Star, whom do I want to develop deeper relationships with, and how might I go about that? If my word is spirituality, what practices will I put in place to foster a life of deeper connections with my Creator and with my inner self?

I also look for ways to remind myself of my word throughout the year. Excitement about fresh beginnings has a way of fading as the new year unfolds, and we can find ourselves completely off track before the Ides of March.

Handwritten notes. Calendar prompts. Pre-scheduled emails to your future self. Discussing your word with family and friends to introduce some accountability.

As I write this column, I’m still considering what my word for 2025 will be. How about you? Sure, we all want to improve in every sphere of our lives, but what one area will have your particular focus in 2025? How will that play out in your life? And what tips could you share to help us all make progress?

Find this article online at readthegroundhog.com to share your thoughts in the comments. Or see Page 2 for where to send a letter to the editor via email or old-fashioned stamp and envelope. Thanks for sharing, and here’s to a strong, prosperous, happy, productive 2025 for us all.