Last year I participated in #best09, a blogging project by Gwen Bell. The idea was to reflect and write about your year through a series of prompts. Being spoon fed thoughtful blogging topics and sharing it all with a sharp, amazing community of people sounds easy, right? Nope. Not a chance.
I found it quite challenging to really dig in and spend quality time reflecting on a year as it passes through what for me can be the most harried month. December, how I love thee, but there never seems to be enough time.
And the prompts require some serious thought. This is no copy and paste from your twitter feed type of job. That’s exactly why the project is worthwhile, and why I am taking another stab at Gwen’s #reverb10.
Here goes nothing.
December 1 One Word.
Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?
(Prompt author: Gwen Bell)
Recovery.
I don’t mean the economy or the nation’s confidence, though I suppose that could all apply. My year was defined largely by the death of a friend and a house hunt that lasted months longer than planned. These two may seem mismatched, but it was likely that I coped with the house stuff (and everything else) a little less ably than I would have otherwise.
I wrote extensively about Doug’s death over at Sundayed if you’d like to know more. It took the better part of the year to get here, but I can revisit memories of him and find joy. Ah, recovery.
I just returned from Thanksgiving weekend in Chicago. I picked up a few last Doug mementos that were set aside for me. I got to spend some time with Doug’s old partner. I told him about how I mowed the lawn at my new house for the first time wearing Doug’s Burberry scarf (he was quite the fashionable type). We had a good laugh because who mows the lawn in Burberry? But we agreed Doug would.
I spent the first half of the year house hunting. We missed out on several places I really thought I’d call home. We were outbid on one. Our offer wasn’t accepted on another and we had to walk away. I had mentally decorated a good handful of houses that didn’t work out throughout the year. I never realized how much of a roller coaster house hunting could be. We lived in two temporary places in Indy, and ended up moving 3 times before finally buying a home. It’s just now feeling very settled, like home.
The need for recovery kept popping up. One best friend died, another moved half across the country to Philly. My current company moved to the west coast and I’ve been trying to help them with that transition while finding new work for myself. More literally, there’s the sprained wrist, a re-injury from a 10+ year old bike wreck. So, here’s to admitting this hasn’t been my best year.
But by some miracle of resilience I didn’t know I had, I keep finding recovery.
With that in mind, a year from now, I want to reflect on a rockin’ year, a year where things click. I’m not seeking mere kismet. Sure, luck might help. But after such a series of things out of my control, I’m determined to shape a few things, will them to happen in 2011. A year full of intention.
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Image credit: Kjunstorm via Flickr
This post is a part of #reverb10 by Gwen Bell. Gwen and her team enlisted a group of authors to write prompts for each day in December. Participants can blog, tweet or post photos in reaction to the prompts to reflect on the past year.