A half year ago or so, the fit feminist bloggers declared our words of the year for 2024. Most of us anyway.
This week, we’re checking in. How are words of the year working for us? Do they still resonate?
Nicole and Truth
TRUTH – as per usual for me, I forgot what my WOTY was, but when I was reminded, I thought about the different ways this word has played out for me in the first half of the year.
Wobbly Runnjng – if you have read my posts in the last few months you will know that one day the world became unstable while running and walking. Through physiotherapy, medical check-ins and talking to lots of people with similar experiences, it seemed my wobbliness was related to anxiety. That may seem like the wobbliness was made up in my head. But, it was very real. It frightened me because, suddenly, I was struggling to walk normally, never mind run. Part of my identity is formed by the idea that I AM A RUNNER. Also, I walk everywhere. It’s my primary mode of transportation. Through physical therapy, practicing mantras and grounding exercises, I worked through the TRUTH that this was a reality and I had to deal with it. It wasn’t quick but, happily, I currently feel as though my running and walking are completely back to normal. That doesn’t mean the problem won’t return. I am grateful every day things are normal and I feel better equipped should the problem reappear. The TRUTH is that things come up as we age and are dealing with stressful situations. Accepting this and working with what happens helped me.
Changing Gyms – Another way that TRUTH has manifested for me in relation to exercise is that I have known I have to try new gyms after several years of putting up with a toxic gym owner, which I put out of my mind because she was mostly absent and I loved my community there. Things have happened recently that made me accept that change is necessary. The truth is that the community is stronger than one person, and we will prevail. That is the truth.
Diane and Explore
I’m halfway through “EXPLORE”. I retired at the end of June but had been busily exploring options for how to spend my time well before that. I qualified as a lifeguard and swim instructor (yay!) and will start a part-time job with the city of Ottawa in September. I have been exploring the city by bike, both as a cycling advocate going to events and as part of a gang of adults that hangs out Thursday nights riding around different areas and sometimes stopping for ice cream. The skating plans were a complete bust this year – thanks climate change. My hiking plans won’t start until August or September because I can’t stand all the biting insects that are active in early summer.
Time and money management are a mixed bag: I am slowly learning that it’s okay not to do all the things on my list each day: I don’t have to go to the office tomorrow so can tackle unfinished projects tomorrow. One of those projects is building a cottage on a property I have owned for many years. It’s costing more than I had planned, but I think it’s a good long-term investment to have a proper bed and screened in area, instead of sleeping in a tent.
As expected, learning to relax and rediscover my imagination has been hard. Instead of meditation or even a daily drawing or writing practice, I have settled on reading books and magazines for now.
Elan and Slow
Halfway through “S L O W” this year. Honestly, it’s been hard. Fast is encouraged, rewarded, and celebrated in so many areas of life. Even time itself seems to speed up as we age (Landau et al., 2017; Bejan, 2019)!
Slow on my own can be okay, but slow with others in soccer, cycling, or group walking can have me feeling or (actually being) behind. Doesn’t help that I compare myself to others, and overthink feeling less or left out when I am slow. It’s also easy for me for SLOW to become STOP, and I just end up on the couch all the time!
Solutions for the second half of the year? The research says to try new things, which I am good at doing. It also suggests pausing to “live in the moment,” which I am not always so good at doing. Maybe I can find a happy balance in thinking about PACE or CADENCE, which might be a word for next year.
Tracy and Strong
STRONG six-month check-in. This has been a strange six months for me, and I have not been using my WOY as a touchstone quite the way I hoped I would. Back in January I was all enthusiastic about literal strength, having just returned to strength training. I stuck it out for the duration of Caroline Girvan’s EPIC I, and then took a week off and have floundered ever since. I tried EPIC II but there was something about it (maybe renegade rows lol) that just didn’t resonate. I have now just started back with EPIC III, which is working better and serving to motivate me. I had considered back in January that STRONG would feel layered and reveal itself as more complex after some years of emotional fragility. I’m not really struggling with that part – I do feel emotionally STRONG these days, but I don’t need my WOY to keep me on task. It just is how I’m feeling. So that has got me to reflect on how the WOY is supposed to function (or help me to function) in my life. I’m not entirely sure, so I have no words of wisdom to offer on that but would love to know how others feel.
The check-in also reminded me that I was meant to be an accountability partner with Mina, and we haven’t been doing a lot of checking in. Mina, I hope you’re doing well with your DISCERNMENT!
Sam and Adventure
ADVENTURE is my word of the year, and it’s also been a theme I’ve been thinking about for the decade ahead. I turn 60 next month and I’ve been thinking about active outdoor adventurer for my sixties fitness identity. You might have already read this blog post, Sam’s next fitness life: the active outdoor adventurer!
But it’s not just about physical activity. I’ve been aspiring to be more adventurous intellectually, too.
I feel like I’ve opened up again to travel, really for the first time since the pandemic. For the past few years, I’ve just been traveling in North America, but this year so far, I’ve been to Germany, Italy, Iceland, and I’m writing this blog post from Scotland.
I’m hoping to get outside with my bike more often in August and sneak in a canoe trip or two in the fall.
I finally feel like I’m recovering from knee replacement surgery. I love being able to walk all day again.
The world isn’t a very easy place right now, and it’s tempting to curl up into ball, hide under the covers, and stay there. I want to be able to maintain a sense of adventure, both playful and purposeful, through it all. Wish me luck!
How about you? Did you pick a word of the year for 2024? How is it working out for you? Let us know in the comments below.
So first off, I need to change my FB notification system, because I didn’t see the post about this post until it was already posted. Post-post, as it were. So I’ll offer a tiny update on DISCERNMENT here (thanks for the shout out Tracy!). Like some others, I don’t think actively about my word as much as I hoped I might. And, I’d say that is because discernment has become more integrated into my life and all of the decisions I’m making–the biggest thing the word has given me is a sense of, if not abundance, then choice. I am choosing not to spend money in ways I used to and that choice doesn’t feel as sad and restrictive as it did last year (even though my financial situation continues to be somewhat precarious). I am discerning what makes me feel alive and trying to align my choices with that, which feels more empowered.