I love picking a word for the year. A theme. A shortcut for remembering what I want or need.
But it’s been all wrong for me.
Not the shortcut or theme concept, but the idea that a single word could do it. Not for me, at least. So this year I’m picking two.
Focus & Joy
In the past, I’ve used variations of one or the other, but one without the other leads me to burnout every time.
Y’all. I swear. I’m trying really hard not to do that burnout thing this year.
Recently, I was talking with some writer friends about how a couple of us have been enjoying our fire pits and the art of building fires. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and it led me to realize I need both Focus AND Joy to build a sustainable fire.
Following only my joy and flitting from project to project leads me to start too many things I can’t finish. While it can be tons of fun, it eventually smothers me with overwhelm. That super hot fire made mostly of kindling looks great, but it dies out fast every time.
On the other hand, digging in and following through with focus all the time builds resentment and misery and drains the life out of me. If I’m only choosing projects that I “should” be working on or doing only marketing tasks that make sense on paper but I hate or make me anxious, then I have no juice left. My writing and my mental health suffer, and I land in burnout here, too. I don’t want a career made only of sad, toasty logs.
So I need both.
I need the freedom to choose projects and marketing tasks that bring me joy. I need to find the joy in writing again. I need to remember to have fun.
But I also need focus to follow through and support my joy. Focus helps limit what I take on, so I can be sure to only chase projects and tasks that truly fill my soul (and my bank account as often as both are possible).
Hopefully, this will be my path to a sustainable year with no burnout. It will take a lot of tending to keep the fire going, but I can keep coming back to those two words every month and make sure I keep them both in play.