Inspired: My 2018 Word of the Year

I’ve chosen my 2018 word of the year.

I debated writing a whole post about my “word of the year” for 2018. Back in 2016, I did a whole series about my word of the year and how it applied to my goals (check out my Be Bold 2016 posts here). Doing that series (with a few other great bloggers, to boot) helped me hold myself accountable to my goals and keeping my word of “care” in mind as I worked toward them.

I didn’t have a specific word of the year for 2017, but I think 2018 calls for one. Choosing a word of the year is a great way to center your mind on your goals and set your focus on how to make them happen. And I’ve got a lot of goals for 2018.

For my 2018 word of the year, I have chosen: inspired.

In all of its forms, my 2018 word of the year has this at its base:

Inspire (verb): to influence, move or guide by divine or supernatural inspiration; to exert an animating, enlivening or exalting influence on; to spur on, to motivate. (source)

As a creative, I’m always looking for inspiration. I like to believe that inspiration is all around me: in food, people, places, books, music, events, moments, even in whatever I’m binge-watching on Netflix. Inspiration is what keeps me excited about my work. I’m happiest when my brain is spinning with ideas that I can’t wait to further explore. The times when I have felt the lowest and least proud and excited about my work were when I felt lacking in inspiration and motivation.

That’s not a fun feeling, y’all.

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With all that said, I know that it’s hard to stay inspired all the time, 24/7. There has to be some time to mentally rest and recharge. With everything I have in mind for this year, those times of rest and recharging will be just as important as the time spent working toward my goals. Exhausted work is uninspiring.

I have to let myself rest and recover so I can stay inspired and create big things. Rest is, after all, one of the most important aspects of the creative process.

So, how exactly do I plan to keep inspiration going this year? Some of it goes back to my 2018 goals:

• Read more
• Spend more time journaling
• Seek new friendships and relationships
• Explore new genres in books and movies
• Listen to more podcasts (since I’m launching one…)
• Stay up to date on emerging tech

Where are some of your favorite sources for inspiration?

Last year, my friend Caroline and I made vision boards to keep us centered on our goals for 2017. Confession: I never actually hung mine. It sat in the corner of my bedroom all year, covered up by other wall art I never hung. The other day I took it out, dusted it off and decided it needed an update.

And this time, I’ll actually hang it… along with a couple of my other posters, too, perhaps. I have plenty of wall space.

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I want to be better about physically writing and tracking my goals this year. I’m no stranger to a good, old-fashioned, paper-and-pen checklist, but I want to share my goals, inspiration and progress with all of y’all, too. So in 2018, join me on Instagram in sharing this inspiration adventure: use #inspiredin2018 in your posts on Instagram and let’s learn from one another and keep the inspiration alive.

How are you staying inspired in 2018? What’s your word of the year?