Word of the year 2023

Image: A close-up of sunflowers against a clear sky, with the word: THRIVE, in a paintbrush-like font, in the bottom right corner. Photo by ulleo on Pixabay.

Happy New Year! I hope 2023 has been good to you so far.

We’re well into the first week of January now, and I found my mind turning toward picking a word and theme song for this year. I’ll stick with my word for 2023 in this post, as I’m still mulling over the theme song—plus, that’s something for another post anyway.

My word to live by for this year is “thrive”.

A significant proportion of my adult life has been about survival, from my first years in Toronto as an art and theatre school student, then as an aspiring actor and part-time phone room supervisor, to more recently working as a reluctant freelancer after being laid off my full-time, permanent job. And, of course, navigating the pandemic, ridiculously high cost of living, disturbing local and world events, the dark hard right turns in society and on social media, yadda, yadda. I think it’s safe to say that, to varying degrees, most of us are exhausted.

This year, I want to focus on finding and creating conditions for thriving—personally, creatively and professionally. This will sometimes mean saying “Yes”, as well as saying “No”. This will mean being open to new and different possibilities and opportunities. This will mean looking at priorities from a different perspective (something many of us have been reminded about during the pandemic). And being especially mindful about not taking people or things for granted, and making time for daily expressions of gratitude.

So, here’s to 2023, the Year of Thriving.

What’s your word for this year?