Almost every year I have a theme for the year. Sometimes, I don't figure it out until the end, but every so often, I actually come up with the theme ahead of time. What a concept.
This year, beyond being just the Year of Hell, has been a tough one in many different areas. Changes have abounded all over the place, all of them good (I have to believe that - that I'm stretching more into the person I'm meant to be, and that those changes are necessary for that process to complete).
However, in some cases, 2011 has been a year of struggle.
I don't want that any more, so 2012 will be my Thrive year.
I figured out the Thrive theme in the new Women Balancing Life and Business group of the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce. As vice-chair of the group, my committee designed topics for our monthly meetings, and December's topic was creating a theme for 2012. I figured I would use a good theme like Abundance or Prosperity, but then one of the women recounted an NPR show about how women business owners in Montgomery County, Maryland, aren't just surviving; they're thriving.
That clinched it. No other word would do. Abundance and Prosperity seemed limiting in some ways, restricted to areas of finance or business. I wanted a whole-life theme.
Since I've been playing around with my creative, artistic side (and my new easel), I decided to brainstorm what exactly Thrive meant to me. Here's what I came up with:
Now, here's the clincher. My older daughter, Teen Child, came into my office one day and asked me what the diagram meant. I explained each area to her and what it would mean to me to thrive in each area.
I didn't realize there was an ulterior motive.
Come Christmas Day, she gifts me with this amazing 2012 calendar that she made to honor my Thrive theme. Each month takes on one of the areas from my diagram, plus two more that she came up with by herself (love and Universe - Uh, what 15-year-old has that capacity for complex thought?). She then wrote something for each one, along with images or photos to demonstrate the concept.
Wow.
I could say so much about this: being supported by my daughter, being seen, having a tangible way to consciously work on my theme and my goals, one of the most thoughtful gifts I've every received....
So, here's January....
Leadership - "You are a leader. You lead because people trust you, because YOU are trustworthy. AND remember to take care of yourself."
I love the picture of Big Dawn and the chain of Everyone Else. Not because I feel bigger than everyone else. I just think Teen Child is clever. :)
Comments