I have never been one for resolutions, but when I stumbled upon a few friends sharing a single word to challenge themselves by for the year, it sounded like something I could get on board with.
Words? I love words. If you were to dig into my computer history, you would likely find the Thesaurus to be my most commonly used app after Keynote. I spend my working days choosing the perfect word. Choosing one for myself should be easy. The only problem with this grand not-a-resolution-but-kinda idea being that while I love words, choosing a single one has never been my strong suite.
Then this morning while listening to this track on Spotify one popped into my head.
Dare.
Maybe it was the slightly dark lyrics or the ‘I could run a marathon’ beat that forced the word dare into my head, but almost immediately it felt right. When I headed to the Thesaurus and the first entry was “be brave enough”, it was settled.
Growing up, dares were something to be feared. A dare was likely something you weren’t supposed to do. A dare was going against the plan. But what if I could think about dares differently?
Instead of a year of firsts, 2015 was the year of, “OK life, let’s do this”. It was a year where I was thankful to find focus in work, in fitness and in marriage. It wasn’t a year of puppies and rainbows, but 2015 brought me some of my most challenging, rewarding and beautifully simple days. And while every article we read about our twenties screams for us to go out and find independence, 2015 taught me to embrace never doing life alone. 2015 brought me fierce partnerships through friends, coworkers and my ultimate truth or dare partner: my husband.
In 2016, I’m daring to leave what’s comfortable, to embrace the risks, and to be brave enough to finish the next 362 days having shared a better version of myself with those important people.
Daring to trust that it is all part of the plan
Daring to show grace, not competition
Daring to trust my gut
Daring to eat the cupcake and not feel guilty about it
Daring to listen before speaking
Daring to run the hilly route instead of taking the flat one
Daring to take my time
Daring to be imperfect
Daring to choose where to eat the first time P asks
OK, so maybe that last one is a bit ambitious. 2016, here we go. I double dog dare ya.