It’s Never Too Late To Begin Again

It’s time to choose a word for 2021!

Yes, I know it’s already May. But all things consider, I’m giving myself a pass and choosing my word for 2021 today. It may not be January, but as my husband likes to remind me, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” That’s close enough to New Year’s for me!

If you’re new here, let me explain the purpose behind choosing a word for the New Year. Instead of a resolution that can be graded or scored, I like choosing a guiding word. It acts more like a mantra than a goal, and allows me the freedom to grow at my own pace. The trick is choosing a word that can both guide and encompass the bigger lessons in any given year.

The search was on. I took to it like speed dating. Typing random words into merriam-webster.com, I hunted for the perfect companion.

Compassion? No.
Reflection? No.
Patience? Nah.

None of them had that je ne sais quoi that I was looking for. I wanted a word that would guide me, and could also represent the past six months. I considered choosing multiple words, one for each phase of lock down. But then I got overwhelmed and had to stop researching all together.

Eventually, I landed on the perfect word. It was unique, encompassed the past six months beautifully, and acted as a guide going forward. It’s a word that I’ve referenced before and it sums up our pandemic life beautifully.

The word is (drum roll please)… Taco.

Yep. I know. It’s not inspiring or motivational or particularly “actionable.” But it feels so fitting. Not only has my family relied on tacos and burritos since this pandemic rolled into town, tacos are  messy!

This year has been messy, and there’s no signs of it being cleaned up by December.

Instead of labeling 2021 as *good* or *bad*, I think we can agree that it’s been messy. Sometimes mess is good, like with tacos or creativity. Other times mess can feel difficult and annoying, like with anxiety and uncertainty. Either way, acceptance of the mess always makes it easier to clean it up without drama or resentment.

So for the remainder of 2021, my guiding word will be Taco. Forget about the Year of the Ox. This is the Year of the Taco! I’ll use this guiding word to embrace the mess that life has become, and recognize that mess is neither good or bad. It just is.

The struggles and heartache of the year have been intense and relenting. Everyone is doing their best to endure an incredibly challenging moment in history. So if we need to eat a few more tacos than normal, or we spill a bit more salsa on the floor. So be it.

It’s the Year of the Taco and mess is allowed.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the kitchen. I’ve got a hankering for some tacos.

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