A New Word for a New Year

It seems cliche for me to post on January 1 after yet another long blog hiatus.  But in actuality, it's not the date that brought me back to this space, but the circumstance.  I returned from the field in late October but had another autumn where I was only home for short stints at a time.  The adjustments I go through returning from the field are hard enough when I have the time and space to move through them without feeling rushed.  But it's particularly hard to get my footing in this 'other life'...one that is so very different from my field life...when I'm not actually spending more than 6 or 7 days of continuous time at home.  This was my entire fall.

I just returned from more than 3 weeks away...2.5 of those for capture work, 1 to visit family back in WV...and am finally looking at a relatively long stretch of time home.  During January and February, I have 3 or 4 short work trips but generally speaking, I can finally have some normalcy...some constancy...in my world (let's not discuss what happens after February!).  Yesterday I was able to go to the grocery store and buy a week's worth of groceries.  Such a small simple act and yet one that I haven't actually done but once or twice in months.  Last night, I made a beloved meal that we hadn't had for over a year.  I was home, cooking good food, with candles lit for light everywhere but my kitchen and Cat Stevens blaring in the background...I felt so overwhelmingly grateful for that normalcy again.

This blog...whether it waxes and wanes repeatedly, is part of that normalcy I've been seeking but not able to grasp yet.  I've started and stopped post after post...nothing ever getting published because I wasn't ready to commit again to the space.  I think I'm ready to commit again for at least a few months.

And given that it is the first of the year, I think I'll start by introducing my 2016 word of the year.  Last year I chose challenge.  At times, this word pushed me beyond my comfort zones in ways that I really needed.  At other times, thinking about this word caused me to stress and put pressure on myself that I just didn't need.  I was able though, for the most part, to realize when 'challenge' was good and when I needed to step back away from it -- such a huge accomplishment in and of itself.  So as with most of the words I choose each year, there is still the space and the need for challenge this year.  Perhaps more about that in a future post...

This year however, I'm making my own rules and choosing a phrase:

Let It Go...

I'm not quite sure how this will present itself to me this year.  But as of today, I expect it will be for a whole manner of things: material, physical, emotional. 

Do you choose a word for the year?  What about intentions?  I'd love to hear either...

Happy 2016!
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Now playing: Sad Lisa by Cat Stevens


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