My Word of the Year: Nourish

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

I never liked New Year’s resolutions. Every year I would make some specific resolution, then if I wasn’t making progress toward it every day, I’d get discouraged. Then I’d beat myself up for not working hard enough to achieve my goal, which is not actually motivating. 

Choosing a word, however, helps me create an intention that is broad and flexible. Rather than a goal I accomplish or don’t, a word is a tool I can return to as I need throughout the year.

For 2023, I knew I wanted to choose a word that would help me to invite more self-care and self-kindness into my life. I considered words like hope, peace, connection and simplify. But in the end I chose – drum roll, please…

NOURISH.

Too often, I think about self-care and self-kindness as a means to build the energy I need to be more efficient or productive. This year I want to focus on overall wellness, both mental and physical, and on nourishing my body, mind and soul. 

I want to be thoughtful about how I engage with my phone, with social media, with the news, with other people’s advice and opinions. I want to spend more time outdoors, take thoughtful walks, listen to music that brings me joy, and do more yoga. I’m open to other suggestions for physical activities. I want to think about how what I eat or drink will nourish (or not nourish) my body in the long run, like cooked vegetables and clean proteins. I have a little kid resistance mentality when it comes to fruits and veggies, so I want to keep exploring ways to eat those that I will actually enjoy! Also, I’d like to focus on drinking more water and less caffeine (aka anxiety juice)!

My intention is to consciously focus on how I want to feel (calm, grounded, sturdy) vs avoiding how I don’t want to feel (bogged down and overwhelmed). So throughout the day, I like to ask myself “is this nourishing me?” It’s a great tool to help me check in as I make decisions about what to engage with and how to spend my time. 

In choosing my word, I took some time to journal and reflect on challenges I had in 2022. When I made a stream-of-consciousness list of possible words, “nourish” was the only one that really resonated with me. It felt bright, inviting, promising. It made me excited to new year. I felt … nourished! 

What’s your word of the year, if you choose one? How did you settle on it? And how do you hope to nourish yourself in 2023?