my One Little Word for 2021

I’ve been thinking about my One Little Word for 2021. Last year, I didn’t give much thought to it, and I worry my lack of a real word led to such a crazy 2020. Not that I believe my One Little Word can affect the whole big world. Ha.

But I do believe choosing a word has kept me more focused in prior years.

In past years, I’ve chosen believe, balance, focus, savor, grow, refresh. Last year, here’s what I said about it:

I have no resolutions for 2020. Really, I’ve not thought about it for even a second. For the past several years, I’ve chosen One Little Word instead of a resolution—a word to focus myself around.

I’ve not thought of a word for 2020 either.

2020 may be a go-with-the-flow year for me. I’ll try to be kind, keep a positive attitude, and be open to whatever comes my way. Within reason.

Yikes.

See? I said I would be open to whatever comes my way and, man alive, I was tested big time.

Words = Power. For real, y’all.

My One Little Word for 2021 came to me Tuesday, as I walked into the kitchen to pour my first cup of coffee. Still dark out, I was tired and not fully awake, although the infant velociraptor-puppy nipping at my ankles was rousing me rather speedily. I tried to remember what day it was. I was having a hard time believing Christmas was over and the year almost gone. And I thought, I have faith that 2021 will be more normal.

That’s when it struck me.

That’s my word for 2021.

Because I need more of it.

My faith has been shaken in 2020.

I’m not talking about religious faith; I’m good there. (So pretty please, God, don’t test my faith in the way of Job or Joseph or Abraham or Jesus Himself…) I’m talking about my faith in people. This year seems to have brought out the worst in so many.

I’m certainly not perfect. Not by a long shot. But I believe faith is not only about what you believe. It’s about how you act and treat others. And I need to believe that we can all do much better in the new year. In many ways, 2020 was a crazy free-for-all with no rules, no manners, no nothing.

J. M. Barrie (Peter Pan) said, “All the world is made of faith, trust, and pixie dust.”

I still have trust, thank goodness.

I still trust our American way of life, I trust that right will win out over wrong, and that humans, in the end, will come together for the greater good.

If that’s the pixie dust swirling in my head, so be it. It’s gotten me this far, and I don’t know how to be any other way.

I need more faith that…

• vaccines will help, coronavirus will be controlled, and sometime soon we won’t be afraid to eat from a salad bar;
• people truly aren’t as misguided as some of the nonsense posts they share;
• our dishwasher won’t break in the year ahead, because based on the howling sound it has begun to make, I’m thinking it is plumb tuckered out from constant use;
• Gracie, constantly nipping at my ankles, will grow beyond her current snapping turtle stage;
• 2021 will be the year I control the Japanese beetle larvae no doubt already plotting underneath our soil;
• soon, say by August 2021, book clubs will no longer be Zoom clubs;
• next Christmas, our family will be together.

Goodbye 2020

A few very good things happened in my 2020 world, so I won’t write-off all 365 days as a complete donkey ride.

I started a publishing company, launched my second book, and re-designed/re-edited/re-launched my first.

Although I fell short of my 2020 reading goal, I read 55 books, many that enhanced my life, opened my eyes to a different perspective, provided travel during a non-travel year.

I walked an average of 2.6 miles a day. Not too bad, although I’d like to get more steps in.

I grew Italian zucchini from seed.

I wrote 98,000 words and finished the first draft of my third novel, an idea that didn’t exist this time last year.

I journaled, took a few online writing classes, accumulated twenty+ hours of on-line gardening education.

I wrote a few blog posts, articles, and submitted to journals.

I learned to make succulent pumpkins and yummy cheese enchiladas.

I bought colored pens and began rough-sketching pictures to go with my words.

Hello 2021

Honestly, I’m stunned and a little panicked by how quickly the past twenty years disappeared. Wasn’t it only yesterday when we celebrated the beginning of a new century?

With a hopeful heart and open mind, I welcome 2021. To me, a new year always represents a fresh beginning; the urge to clean closets and purge drawers is strong. This year, it will take more than clean closets to set things straight. Even with the flip of the calendar, all the pixie dust in the world won’t magically return life to normal.

2021 will require patience and faith and a heaping helping of good humor.

Part of my plan: I will not be bringing negativity and intolerance and ridiculousness along with me into 2021—people or habits or thoughts. Since scrolling on by doesn’t always work for me, in 2021, I will become more familiar with my unfollow button.

So that’s it, my One Little World for 2021. Have you chosen yours? Tell me and let’s be accountable together.

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.