My 2016 Words of the Year: Change. Perspective.

Do y’all know me? Do you know you how I like my stability and security? You do? So it’s a surprise then, right, that change is my word for the year? Maybe it should be perspective but that only allows for a view shift. I think change is more dynamically inclusive of the unknown or irregular. And it gets the heart beating a little better.

Yeah. It surprises me too. I’m the one who likes to know things. I can go with the flow only so long as I know where the flow goes.

Life is either a daring adventure or it’s nothing. ~Helen Keller

Change is fluid. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing, this or that. It can be subtle or strong. What I’m sweetly discovering is change doesn’t always mean replacement. It can mean addition, alteration, shift.

My Penny Jar

I’ve traded up my small glass penny jar for a larger plastic bottle that holds more ~ coins and bills. I haven’t stopped my saving. I’ve amped it up. That’s a change I can get on board with.

Embracing change can also mean not embracing change. I’m a creature of habit and schedule. I’ll grow my hair to almost shoulder length and then once or twice a year have it cut short and sassy. This week, I chose to change by not changing. I had my hair trimmed and colored, but not cut. I changed my habit of changing.

A Perspective Change

Last weekend I replaced the calendar pages in my day planner. I stood on the desk chair for this photo. Did my calendar change? Was there different tea in my NOLA mug? Did those thumb drives leap to life with pages ready for print? No. You already know that. But my perspective changed. Taking a step back from the task at hand allowed me to view the larger picture of my goals and tasks for the upcoming year.

Some change is necessary. If I stick my roots down too firmly in the familiar, I won’t bend but I might break with the storms. I am reminded to stop fighting and be still.

“Stop forcing a catastrophe where there’s not even a storm.”

I’m embracing change this year because I’m ready for the adventure it brings. I’m ready to move beyond my comfort zone. I’m not changing everything, but I’m refusing to remain stagnant.

As I write this, it’s New Year’s Eve and I’m watching The Poseidon Adventure with Mom. Now there’s an adventure movie. It’s our usual NYE fare, a tradition for many years. This year, I’m watching it differently. It’s the same movie, but my viewing has changed. It’s Al Gansky’s fault. He referenced it in the Spirituality in Fiction episode of the Firsts in Fiction podcast. It created another perspective shift for me.

The survivors of the Poseidon have to change their perspective, or they won’t survive. (I’d say “spoiler alert,” but I’m thinking you already know this.) The ship is turned upside down and they have to venture up which is down to find their way out. The world is in chaos, but they work together. Some make it, some don’t. But it’s the ones who stuck to their stability in the beginning, who clung to the familiar even in disarray, who never even had a chance. They believed the ordinary was still working, and they died before our protagonists’ adventure began.

The survivors realize that change was thrust upon them, and they choose to work through it, even creating some of their own. Dependencies, relationships, and strengths are born through the adventure of finding their salvation.

So maybe I’ll take two words this year. Change and Perspective. I can have one without the other, but together, it’s going to be quite an adventurous year.