My One Word for 2020

#AMonthofFaves

As I said last year, I’m not sure when I started doing this or who got me started. According to a few notes on Evernote from previous years, my one word for 2014 actually was two words: “Focus” and “equilibrium.” The equilibrium part of it was because I had just discovered that year that I have tinnitus. In 2016, the word was “Reinvigorate.” Last year’s word was “Breathe.”

Without further ado, this year’s word is:

“recuperate,” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recuperate. Accessed 12/14/2019.

I didn’t have to think much about this year’s word since it was obvious. In late March, I somehow injured my left knee. After several months of doctor appointments and physical therapy, in late October, I had arthroscopic surgery on the knee wherein a small mass of torn meniscus was removed and the cartilage around the knee was smoothed. While I am back to “normal duties” at my job at the library, I still have scar tissue that is in the process of healing.

To assist with that process, I want to walk daily. Also on the physical side, I want to eat and drink better than I have in the last several years. I am not setting a goal of how much weight to lose, but I know that any amount I can lose will lessen the burden on my knees in the future. Plus, of course, naturally it will help my health overall.

Beyond recuperating physically, I want to recuperate mentally and spiritually, in terms of regaining a former state or condition. I remember a time when I read, wrote, and prayed more…and felt more centered than I have within the last few years. To that end, I want to read a book a week (including one nonfiction book a month), journal daily, and re-incorporate devotions into my daily routine.

By journaling, I should clarify that I mean typing into an app called Journey on my laptop. Unfortunately, my printing and handwriting is atrocious (my wife blames my former job as a newspaper reporter where I had my own version of shorthand/”chicken scratches”) so I will not be using a physical journal.

For a while last year and the previous year, I had a regular devotion routine, which I used The Book of Common Prayer morning and evening. I want to develop that routine again, to help bookend my days.

I have five other goals for the year, that I have made as goals every year:

  1. Be quick to listen.
  2. Slow to speak.
  3. Slow to anger.
  4. Talk less.
  5. Smile more.

The first three are from various translations from The Book of James in The Bible, that my mother likes to quote often:

“Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.”

James 1:19

The last two are advice Aaron Burr gave Alexander Hamilton in the song “Aaron Burr, Sir” in the musical Hamilton.

Do you have One Word for 2020? Any goals or resolutions for the New Year?

All this month, I’ve been joining Tanya & Kimberly at Girlxoxo and Tamara at Traveling with T for their annual #AMonthofFaves blog event – a fun way to recap the year that was. Today’s post fit the topic Challenges and Goals, with the prompt “Reading challenges, personal goals, resolutions – how did you do? Which was your favorite book read (and / or least favorite) for each challenge – or from all of them. Did you make New Years Resolutions? Did you get to all of them? Are you making any for next year … next month … next season?” In addition to the topic for this one and two others that I did earlier in the month, I will do one more, This is How We Read, next week. In that post, I also briefly will address my reading goals for 2020. To see the entire list, visit #AMonthofFaves 2019 [Blog Event] Announcement.

Published by Bryan G. Robinson

Blogger formerly known as Unfinished Person. Still an unfinished person...

Published

21 thoughts on “My One Word for 2020”

  2. “To assist with that process, I want to walk daily. Also on the physical side, I want to eat and drink better than I have in the last several years. I am not setting a goal of how much weight to lose, but I know that any amount I can lose will lessen the burden on my knees in the future. Plus, of course, naturally it will help my health overall.” — Same. In fact, I deliberately didn’t put anything about my weight in my post for the same reason, though I know I do need to lose some as I have gained quite a bit in the past couple of months. I don’t have knee problems, but I have other health issues which I know are affected by how much I weigh.

    Recuperate is an excellent word. I was torn between two but ultimately went with balance.

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  3. My post isn’t up yet but my word is Gather. I took a quiz and ironically, it selected the same word I had in mind for this next year. I want to meet more with people, in person for a quick coffee or meal. My time is always limited but I’ve missed the connection that comes from real-life meetings.

    I like your word a lot. I feel the need to recuperate in many ways.

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  8. Oh! Somehow I tabbed-entered while trying to drop down to a new paragraph. Sorry for the double comment! I was going to say that I hope recuperation goes well for you, that your knee heals quickly and that you can move forward with all of the aspects of your goal. Cheers!

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    1. No problem on the double comment. It happens. I have a hard time navigating comments sometimes too. 🙂 And thank you. I hope so too. The knee already is healing; it’s just a slow process, sometimes impeded by my own lack of exercise. I just need to get out more…or at least walk more inside. What’s good about this winter so far here is that it hasn’t been too cold.

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  10. I don’t do resolutions. One year my best friend and I made resolutions to not be lazy with our speaking (not dropping g’s off words, etc.), and to swear less. I will let you figure out how that went. Hahahaha!

    I was using the Journey app on my phone for a while, but then stopped using it and couldn’t justify continuing to pay the subscription when I wasn’t journaling on a daily basis anymore. I always think I want to start journaling, and it never lasts.

    I like your word of the year and your resolutions, though.

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    1. I get it. I try to keep mine fairly simple and yes, many are still the same every year: for example, walking daily. In my defense last year, for about six months, I was dealing with a torn meniscus in one knee, and even if not daily, if I can walk every other day, I’ll take it. As for journaling, I use the app often enough to justify it, even if not every day. I like that I can export it later if I want to, so if the app goes (as my wife would put it) “tits up” then I still have the entries.

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