A new kind of resolution
Your home needs this–mine does too!
I like goals, but I’ve never been a resolutions person. I’ve just never felt enthusiastic about trying to make big, grand goals for my whole year right after the holidays in the dead of winter. So when a friend introduced me to the idea of a “word of the year” a while back, I embraced it. Instead of setting a goal or a resolution, you pick a single word to be your north star for the year ahead.
After choosing words of the year a few years in a row, I have concluded that finding the exact perfect word doesn’t matter as much as the process does. Thinking deeply about what you want in the year ahead and trying to sum it up in a single word is a satisfying challenge. As I started to think about a word for 2025, I realized I actually need two words of the year: One for myself and one for my home. Here’s why.
So often we put our home last on our to-do list. Our wishes and dreams for our homes get saved for another day, especially in the busy season of life with young kids. But our homes are the place where our lives unfold. Think of that great feeling of a weekend spent in a beautiful hotel or a nice rental house–or even just how good your own house feels when you’ve spruced it up because company is coming. Why shouldn’t that be your everyday experience? I know from experience that small changes can have a big impact on how we feel about our homes. Having a guiding word can help you stay motivated to make those little improvements. At least, that’s my theory!
If you’d like to try this with me, ask yourself a few questions to help you discover what would be the best word of the year for your home:
Why do you want to improve your home this year?
What does the best (but realistic) version of your home look like?
What do you want more of in your home?*
What do you want less of in your home?*
What would you change about your home tomorrow, if you could?
If you were going to sell your home soon, what would you do to get it ready?
*If you only do one of these prompts–make it a more/less list!
So what are some good words? For my family member who is bemoaning her home’s lack of daylight in the winter, ‘light’ might be a good word. For my friend who is thinking about moving, but can’t quite articulate why they want to move, maybe the word of the year would be something like ‘change’ or ‘evolve.’ For a reader who recently told me she felt buried in clutter, maybe ‘less’ or ‘lighter’ could motivate change.
Once you have your word, put some energy behind it: Create a Pinterest board or a collage for your word. Find books about your word at the library. Get a friend to pick a word too, and then check in with each other monthly to see if you’ve done anything in service of your word. Think about taking a workshop to get inspired. Put quarterly reminders on your own calendar to think about your word.
Below you’ll find exactly how I choose my word of the year and which word I settled on–a little bonus for paid subscribers.