Do you have a word that captures something of an envisioned 2025 touchstone for you? For the past few years we at Fit Is a Feminist Issue have had fun choosing words-of-the-year (#woty). You can see past choices here:
Sometimes we post updates partway through the year to check-in about how it’s going. On occasion, the call for an update sends at least a few of us scrambling to remember what word we had chosen. Some years we choose better than others. To me, the very process of choosing a word-of-the-year is a fun and sometimes revealing attempt to have a thematic focus for the year to come. Today, we present this year’s choices.
Natalie: Steady
Steady is my word. I want to be steady in my exercise, writing, crafting and paid work.
I’m using my bicycle commute to experiment with smaller distances more often. My smart watch is giving me a lot of insight into how inconsistent I have been in 2024.
Since I’m working on my balance I also want to be steady on my feet and on my bike. Re-training my brain is a big part of this.
Steady as she goes!
Samantha: Engage
Engage is my word for 2025. On the work front it’s my first research leave in eight years since winter 2017. I’ve never gone that long without leave before and I’m keen to re-engage with ideas, and arguments, and writing. I’m also feeling keen to engage with all the outdoor activities I love, hiking and biking and back country canoe camping. I’m also feeling the need to see more of the people I love, to engage more with the people I care about. I’ve had a few significant losses in recent years, two more in the past few months, and I’m struck anew by how short and precious life is. But then there’s also the big scary political world, getting scarier by the day as Trump talks of leaving the WHO, escalating the death penalty, taking over Canada, and forced mass deportation Add to that the rise of the right here in Canada and I’m having to fight very hard against the impulse to hide under my blankets. Instead I’m resolving to engage, to take a stand, to write letters, campaign door to door, to do something.
Tracy: Confidence
I went back and forth between “ease” and “confidence,” and settled on the latter because I want to let go of all the various little insecurities and areas where I’ve lacked confidence, and trust my own capacities. It’s time. In my work, I’m returning to the classroom after a couple of years away, with not one but two classes starting in January. You’d think that after 32 years of teaching anyone would just be filled to the brim with confidence. But that turns out not to be the case. However, with my WOTY this year, I’m going to stare that down from day one.
I also want to pursue my fitness activities with confidence. Instead of “I can’t do that,” I’m going to go in with the attitude that I can. I can lift heavy things. I can do push-ups and renegade rows. I can do unmodified chataranga in the yoga flow. I can do speed work, and tempo runs, and endurance runs, and easy runs. And I can factor actual rest into my fitness routines. And I am perfectly capable of maintaining a regular routine.
Then there is my photography. I have a lot to learn still, but I can also feel confident that I have a good eye and that I am capable of getting better.
Finally, I want to tackle my big move to Toronto with Diane, coming up this summer, with confidence. I’m already confident that it’s going to be amazing once we are there. So what’s the problem? Between now and settling into a new place in TO, we need to find the right place, sell our places, get rid of excess stuff, pack up the remaining stuff, and coordinate two moves. But we can do this! People do it all the time.
So this year, whenever that annoying voice in my head starts planting doubt, I am going to counter it with a confident rejoinder.
Elan: Consistency
Sloooooowwwww was my 2024 WoTY. For the first part of the year, especially when I was cycling, SLOW came to mind only when I wasn’t meeting my desired pace. But over the year SLOW shifted from an excuse or an apology to something I tried to embrace. The mindfulness exercises I did reggularly around lunch time using my Oura app also gave me permission to slow down.
Over the winter break I read about how avoidance and procrastination activates in our bodies a stress response that builds anxiety. In contrast, making a start (however slowly) reduces anxiety and builds our capacity to adapt and grow. My hope in 2025 is to continue to embrace slowness, and from that build more consistent habits, which I’ve found even more difficult than slowing down. So consistency will be my WoTY for 2025.
Catherine: Compass
Collective was my 2024 WOTY. Realizing that a lot of my happiness comes from being part of a collective, I engaged in lots of activities with my various groups– from the bloggers at Sam’s 60th birthday party to book club to traveling, cycling and swimming with friends and family. I feel lucky to be a part of a number of communities, and I spent more time being active and present.
2024 was also a year in which I (more or less) came to terms with the fact that I have limited time and energy and resources to devote to people, places and pursuits. This year, I’m focusing on physical health and strength, creativity (mainly through writing, but also some art/craft) and being with people I care about.
The destinations are clear, but I still need help in navigating there. So my WOTY for 2025 is Compass, to help me find my way to the people, places, and pursuits I value so much. Yes, I may take the scenic route sometime, and there will be detours. And traffic jams. But as long as I have something to guide me, I think 2025 has the potential to be a great year for journeys and destinations.
Nicole: Believin’
First of all, as is customary for me, I have forgotten what my word for 2024 was and I am not looking because I don’t want to look back. I want to look forward. Not wanting to reminisce, is not typical for me, but that’s how I feel right now.
The word I have chosen for 2025 is “Believin’”. A few years ago, on our first trip anywhere after the lock down of 2020 and most of 2021, my husband and I went to Vancouver and Victoria for a brief, very welcome, change of scenery. It was early summer. We were warned ahead of our arrival at the Granville Island Hotel, that there would be a party in the hotel on our first night there and it might be a bit noisy. At first, we were not thrilled, expecting it to be noisy in a stressful way. However, much to our delight, while we were cozy in our room around 11 pm, we were serenaded by the sound of a group of early teenage girls singing “Don’t Stop Believin” by Journey at the top of their lungs at the bat mitzvah taking place in the party room below. it was just the tonic our hardened, still pandemic-wearing souls needed in that moment. And, so, it occurs to me that my soul needs my word for 2025 to be “Believin”. Whether it’s toward my workouts, my family life or the world at large, I am going to try and summon the word, “Believin” – Believin’ in possibility, strength, moments of joy, gratitude and peace in all “this”.
Diane: Enjoy
I loved EXPLORE, my word for 2024 and I did quite a bit of exploring about myself, though not enough exploring in my surroundings. I’m tempted to keep it for another year but the areas where I fell down relate more to learning to relax and enjoy what is happening in the moment.
Realistically, relax is too…relaxing to suit me so I’m going to work on “enjoy” – enjoying my new job, my new grandson, my new cottage and the surrounding area, and doing physical and artistic things that give me joy with friends or on my own.
Amanda: Limits
My word of the year is Limits. As in recognizing, accepting and respecting my own limits. Not easy but important.
Cate: Pathways
My word is pathways. It’s the year I turn 60 and make some decisions about the directions I’d like to curve the rest of my life toward.
Amy: Initiate
I feel like my year started over the summer with a big birthday, so the mid-year/new-year brings a good opportunity for reflection and a fresh perspective. My WOTY is initiate – just get started and see what happens instead of holding off for fear of failure, not having enough time, perfectionism, etc. I don’t usually also add a motto but based on a birthday astrology reading I’m adding one this year: go big AND go home. Lastly, I’ve been on a colorful kick, trying to wear more colors and expand how I see color in my life. I’ve even purchased a hot pink planner for the year, where pink is formerly a no-go color for me.
Martha: Replenish
My word is replenish. Like the meme says, I’ve been driving full tilt with the engine light blinking and the gas tank on fumes. Time to rest, refocus and replenish literally and figuratively. Sixty five is on the horizon and time to think on my goals for the next decade and more.
So those are ours. What’s your word of the year for 2025? And why did you choose it?
Happy New Year, everyone!
