E.A. Brady

Have you ever had a word jump out at you seemingly everywhere you look? Maybe you see it in a book and your eye gets stuck on it, or you hear it on a podcast, and it almost seems louder, or more important than the other words you hear. It’s sort of like your brain puts the word into bold type so you don’t miss it.

When that happens to me, I try to pay attention because I feel like it’s a word I need to pay attention to, or spend some time thinking about. Whether you call it God or Universe or whatever, it feels like someone is trying to get my attention. (I actually have a story drafted based on the idea of the Universe working overtly to get someone’s attention, and then how they respond. But that’s a different post for a different day!)

In the pursuit of setting goals for the new year, throughout the month of December, I spent a ton of time re-reading my journals from 2021 and looking at them from the point of view of patterns and habits and trends that I saw in my life. Some were fine. Some weren’t.

If I wanted to be successful in the goals I’d set for myself for 2022, a number of those habits and patterns would need to change.

Enter that word that started to show up everywhere I looked. The first instance was in an email from one of the fitness coaches I follow. (His name is Sean Fagan, The Muay Thai Guy. And he’s awesome!)

“I deliberately set monster goals – as big as I can imagine them – because my ultimate aim isn’t necessarily to accomplish every single one; it’s to grow, develop, and evolve along the way. That’s the target.”

He was talking about something I needed to work on – myself. Growing. Changing.

Evolving.

Then it seemed everywhere I was, the word evolve was sure to be found. I read it in books a few different times. Then I heard it on a podcast I’ve been listening to for a long time where I’d never heard him use the word before.

So, I kept it. I kept the word evolve for myself. It became my word of the year for this year.

I’ve started keeping much more detailed journals about the obstacles I’m facing (including my own fears and occasional lack of motivation!) as well as how I’m working to combat those things. It’s nothing earth shattering, but the point is forward progress. Evolving as a person, as a writer, as an athlete, and eventually as a small businessperson.

What about you? Do you have a word of the year? If so, what is it? How did you come up with it? Hit me up in the comments or catch me on the socials and let me know. I love talking about this stuff!