New year, new word. I've been participating in the "One Word" challenge for the past few years and I have really enjoyed the opportunity to choose a word to define my year and help me maintain focus. The practice of choosing a “Word of the Year” is that, instead of setting a lot of different New Years Resolutions, you select one single word to be your focus for the year. For me, it has been a worthwhile exercise that allows me to keep the main thing the main thing. For this year, I have chosen the word EMBRACE as my 1 word for 2023.
To EMBRACE is to take in or include as a part, item, or element of a more inclusive whole. To me, it means taking what comes my way and accepting it for what it is and making most of the opportunity that it presents. Whether it be positive or negative, EMBRACING something means that you are going to accept and move on from there. Below is how I plan to EMBRACE 2023.
EMBRACE THE NEW
Every year presents amazing opportunities to try something new and step outside your comfort zone. This could be in the form of trying a different strategy than what you are used to, utilizing a new technology that is foreign to you, or reflecting on your past practice and taking on a new perspective. I recently read a book called The Twin Thieves: How Great Leaders Build Great Teams by Steve Jones and Lucas Jadin and it really opened my eyes to a new way of embracing the new. In the book, Jones and Jadin talk at length about fear and failure being the twin thieves that will rob us blind if we don't recognize them and step outside of our comfort zone to grow. As I read, I thought about all the times that I didn't step forward in my life due to fear and failure and how many opportunities I lost to actually grow. This year, I am going to embrace the new no matter how scary it might be and take the challenges head on.
EMBRACE THE SUCK
A colleague of mine told me that "embrace the suck" is a term that is used in the military. I honestly didn't know that at the time because it was something that I thought was unique. I guess I was giving myself too much credit. We all know that our days are not always going to be sunshine and rainbows. We are going to have hard times, difficult conversations, moments of sadness and anger, and overall suckiness, but we must embrace the suck and find ways to help us learn and grow. In fact, we need to weather a few storms in order to get to rainbows and sunshine. It is in these storms that we should not be afraid to get dumped on figuratively. Instead, we should realize that things could always be worse, but better days are ahead of us if we can find ways to embrace the suck for a little bit knowing there is something better on the horizon.
EMBRACE THE UNEXPECTED
We all have had those times in our lives when something comes out of the blue and we are caught off guard. Depending on what the situation is, we meet the occasion with a certain emotion. Typically, that emotion is something that we regularly access because it is easy and we are wired for it. What if we worked at rewiring our brains to embrace the unexpected with optimism, gusto, and as an opportunity for growth? It's a scary proposition because for many of us, we like to give off the impression that we have everything put together, that we are organized, and that we are flexible. The reality, however, is that these are just facades that we put on to hide our fallible selves. If we could all just drop the facades we have built up over time and allow ourselves to embrace the unexpected opportunities that come our way, we might actually realize that we have been missing out on some pretty amazing things.
#OwnYourEpic #Embrace
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