one little word 2012: shift

(Shift key necklace available from Precious Pastimes on Etsy)

My one little word for 2012 is shift.

It came to me unexpectedly, as I was browsing on Etsy last week. I’d been thinking about a few other words – write, create, space, enough, even abundance – but none of them felt quite right. I started to feel a little behind the curve, after seeing everyone’s shiny new posts about resolutions, goals, plans and words for the New Year. I’d let myself off the hook for making resolutions (I’m already working on a list of things to do this winter and my 28 things list), but I was hoping to find one word I could carry with me through the year. And then I happened upon a necklace made from a shift typewriter key, and I thought: That’s it.

I’ve fallen into a number of habits and ruts I’d like to change. Hitting the snooze button, so I rush around in the mornings and run late to work, and have to skip writing before work. Spending too much time surfing the Internet, when I need to focus on one project or step away from the screen. Snacking mindlessly rather than healthily. Worrying about what to write rather than just writing.

The word shift doesn’t require a huge change (though sometimes it pushes for one). Rather, it calls for small changes, one at a time. It pushes me to sit up; take notice; pay attention. That’s what my one little word practice is really about: paying attention to the small choices I make, which add up to big habits and practices over time. Here in the “first world,” we have the luxury of an abundance of choices – but we are responsible for them, because they determine how we spend our days. And as Annie Dillard says, “how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

Shift also leaves me open to make other changes after I make the first ones. If I shift in one direction and it doesn’t work, I can choose to shift in a new direction. As my husband noted, shift is a verb (though it can also be a noun). It motivates me to take action – helpful because I tend to live in my head, thinking and planning and over-analyzing rather than just doing it.

I want shift to help me stop procrastinating, stop hiding behind fear or doubt, and move forward. Not all at once; not even by leaps and bounds; but steadily, surely, deliberately, toward the life I want to live. (Brave, my word from 2010, is still reverberating through my life – I’ll continue to wear it around my neck and carry it in my heart.)

Are you carrying a word or phrase with you this year? Please share in the comments!

Advertisement