My Word for 2021: Refuge

Every year I like to choose a word instead of making a New Year’s resolution, and I find that the openness of it helps me shape the coming months in a way that a list of specific goals doesn’t. If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that plans can change.

At the beginning of the year I declared growth, and in a lot of ways I did grow—we all did.

Out of our comfort zones.

Out of our routines.

Away from life as we knew it.

This year I am choosing refuge: rest, recovery, a shelter from the storm.

I hope that we can spend these next few months waiting out the rest of this pandemic, keeping ourselves and the world safe until we can reevaluate what life might look like from here on out. Like everyone else, I dream of the day we can all gather without worry and hug each other and sit at the bar of a crowded restaurant or go to a show without imagining the potential impact it may have on our health care workers and the availability of ICU beds.

The past nine months have been unlike any other. And so I choose refuge. To get the nice comforter, my favorite candles. To make time to stretch and read and pray and write. To re-watch that show again for the sixth time because it really makes you laugh. To look at my anxiety head on and say there’s really no room for you here anymore.

To recover and rest and wait for better days ahead. I know they are coming.

Happy New Year, everyone. I hope 2021 finds you safe and healthy and happy.