How to 2024

Happy New Year from down under. I am currently on a spontaneous world tour of sorts, and earlier today welcomed 2024 by watching fireworks over the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia.

If you asked me one week ago where I’d be celebrating the year that was and welcoming in the new year, I would not have been able to tell you. Being half way across the world would have been the last place I would have guessed. Yet here I am.

At the start of each new calendar year, I pick a one word intention to help guide my choices for the upcoming twelve months. This year is particularly special for me as it is the tenth year of me practicing this tradition.

This past year, my one word intention was Build. As I was reflecting on the year with a close friend last week, she commented to me “well, you nailed it”!

The theme of Build was ever present in the last twelve months of my life.

From building my health and physical strength, to building businesses, to building new relationships and friendships, to building a fresh identity as an author, to building the feeling of home in my new apartment, to building a sense of familiarity across the many European cities I frequented, to building greater confidence in important areas of life, to building my language skills, and the list goes on.

In the past week as I have taken inventory in my journal of how the theme of Build showed up, it was at every turn and corner. It shaped the year and gave it a constant despite the moments of feeling up and down. I give a lot of credit to a remarkable year to this one word intention that guided so much for me.

I share these examples to highlight just how powerful a one word intention can be.

It serves as a North Star and gives some direction to how I move through life. It is not a description of the 'what', 'who,' or 'where', but more importantly, the 'how'.

Specific goals (e.g. financial, career, health, etc.) can become limiting, narrowing my focus so much that life begins to feel deprived of all that can be beautiful and unknown. An abstract intention feels inviting in the face of the unknown.

There are many ‘forks in the road’, be it little tiny ones or big heavy ones. Ten years now into this practice, I have trained myself to lean on my one word intention to help guide my choices.

Sharing the one word intention with those around me further cements it, for me. It is an act of vulnerability to share a part of myself with others, with the hope that they’ll remind me when I feel lost, support me when I need it and celebrate me when it feels right.

Below is a list of one word intentions that friends have set and shared with me over the past few years. I hope it helps inspire your one word intention for the year ahead.

In the spirit of sharing, I invite you to share your one word intention with me. Be it by email, Whatsapp or social media. And then I’ll happily share mine with you as well. It is how I ended up halfway across the world spontaneously.

And that is how I learned to 2024.

Acceptance

Action

Authentic

Awareness

Balance

Bold

Build

Change

Commitment

Compassion

Confidence

Connection

Control

Courage

Create

Discovery

Energy

Explore

Fearless

Focus

Freedom

Fun

Giving

Grace

Gratitude

Grounded

Growth

Harmony

Heart

Humility

Integrity

Joy

Learn

Lightness

Love

Open

Ownership

Partnership

Play

Positive

Presence

Relax

Respect

Self Love

Serve

Simplify

Space

Surrender

Truth

Trust

Union