My one little word for 2021 came to me in the shower, on the first day of the first month of this brand new decade:
“PROSPER”
But first, let’s take a brief look in the rearview mirror at some of my previous words for the year, and the impact they’ve had …
2018: “Breathe“. Always a good idea to breathe! It’s funny how something so necessary to life, is something we rarely think about – and yet there are so many benefits when we do. Pausing to take a deep breathe is good for our body, our mind, our spirit, our temper. You can read my thoughts on having “breathe” as my word for the year, here.
Probably because it was my first ever “one little word”, it still lingers in my consciousness.
2019: “Colour“. Bringing more colour intentionally into the different areas of my life meant stepping out of my comfort zone … and that’s when growth happens, as I realised in my end of year reflection!
(By the way, I had NO IDEA when I chose this word, that I would be invited to workshops to discover my colour and style personalities – ties in beautifully, don’t you think?!)
2020: “Blossom“. At first I thought “breakthrough” would be my word for the year, but with some input from my readers I adjusted it to “blossom”. Blossom is a tad gentler than breakthrough, and it also introduced ideas of maturity, beauty, and things happening naturally in the fullness of time – there’s nothing forced about it.
Who knew what 2020 had in store for us?!!!!! Being able to survive has been a gift, let alone being able to blossom! And yet … I have, in so many areas.
Here’s just one. Compare this photo from Christmas 10 years ago, to the Christmas just gone. It came up in my Facebook memories and my kids told me that I look better now than I did back then – and I have to agree! How is that even possible?!
2021: And now, my word for this brand new year is “PROSPER”.
I’m a Star Trek fan from way back, and the traditional Vulcan greeting is “live long and prosper”. Once I’d hit on my word for the year I started wondering why they wouldn’t say “live WELL, long and prosper”, because what’s the point of living long if you’re not living well?
But “prosper” encompasses that. Spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically, professionally, personally, relationally and financially.
However, I won’t deny that I am mainly inspired by the financial implications of choosing “prosper” as my word for the year.
I’ve done it tough in my time – when my basic living expenses exceeded my income each week and I struggled to pay the rent. Heck, there was even a time when I was homeless. The husbear and I watched our pennies very carefully for many years, and are grateful that these days we are quite comfortable financially.
For a long time I thought that was enough, but now I’m not so sure.
It feels quite bold to put it out there, that I want to prosper – and that includes financially!
But isn’t that greedy?!
Well, that’s what I thought … but now …
You see, if *I* prosper, so do others. The more I have, the more I have to give or to help.
If I prosper:
- The husbear could leave his job, maybe even retire early!
- We could help our kids, immediate family, or others, should they be in need;
- I give more to the charities and causes that are close to my heart;
- I could do more to support the local economy;
- I could employ sub-contractors and eventually staff, providing them with income;
- Which would then benefit their families;
- Not to mention the fact that the SEO services my business provides would benefit many more businesses, bringing them clicks and clients;
- And on it goes …
I’ve been doing a fair bit of reading on business, finances and prosperity over the last year or two – titles like “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind“, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, “The E-Myth Revisited”, and “The Barefoot Investor”.
But even the Bible is full of stories about how God wants us to prosper, such as:
- the parable about people burying ‘talents’ (as in money, and not just the way we think of talents today) and being a wise steward instead to grow whatever funds/assets we may have;
- the Proverbs 31 woman, who considered investing in a field, etc;
- or an old favourite Scripture of mine: “For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to PROSPER you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” -NIV
- there are many more, but I’m too lazy to look them up right now!
While the husbear is interested in these things as well, he also feels we have “left it too late” now that we are in our 50’s 🙁 .
It’s not ideal (I wish we’d started thinking this way earlier), but the fact of the matter is, we weren’t ready before. For many years I was a ‘wage slave’, stagnating in a dead-end job but didn’t realise it. The husbear and I value safety, security, stability; we don’t like risk.
We’ve also been burned before (don’t get me started on how the GFC affected us!).
There are many lessons we’ve had to learn along the way, and it’s hard to think “big picture” about finances (or anything really!) when you’re in the midst of raising a young family.
All I know is that NOW, in 2021, my mind is opening to the possibilities … and maybe it’s time to start taking some teeny tiny steps in this area. (Did I mention that Mr 26 is an associate financial advisor? Might have to hit him up for some tips!)
At the very least, choosing prosper as my one little word will help me keep thinking about it, curb unnecessary spending, look for ways to grow what is already in my hands. It’s about changing from working for money, to making money start to work for me!
So back to my word for the year for 2021: “prosper”. I want to see my health, wealth, family, business, community, blog, etc … prosper!
And that’s my wish for you too as we head into this brand new year: Live long and prosper!
Have you decided on your word for the year? Share it in the comments below!