I’ve been participating in Ali Edward’s annual workshop, One Little Word for several years now. I’ve had various degrees of success in actually completing the workshop each year, but I usually keep the word at the forefront of my thinking, whether I complete all of the monthly prompts or not. I always set my intentions in January, and usually visit the classroom most months and watch the videos Ali shares. I don’t always document in an album.
Last year, my word was BECOME. It was such a strange, crazy year – as we all know. And I actually did several more months of documentation than I have in years past. I think it’s because the pace of 2020 was slower and I did so much less traveling for work than what I had been doing. I’m grateful to Covid for that, for sure! I spent quite a bit of time thinking about who and what I wanted to be when I grew up (although, truth be told, I’m not sure I have any intention of ever growing up.)
2021 is likely to be a pretty momentous year for me. I turn 50 this month! Emily turns 18, graduates and moves off to college. Mike and I become empty nesters. I’m back to leading a small team at work. Lots of change. And I really am ready for all of it. I think.
As I thought about my One Little Word, I considered celebrate – knowing that I wanted to soak in all the good things and celebrate each little moment of this year. I considered change – knowing that there was so much change and needing to intentionally navigate my way through it and hopefully embrace it. In the end, I chose CREATE. My reason for this is simple: I want to intentionally create this next chapter for myself. And it builds so nicely on last year’s word. I haven’t usually shared my journey very publicly, other than to announce my word at the beginning of the year. And I don’t know that I’ll share the results of my prompt each month.
But I did make one small change on my business insta on January 1. I changed my account to Kelly Waterman Creates. It probably seems a little simple and inconsequential. But it really shifts my focus from a product-oriented account to an exploration-oriented account. It’s still a business. I’ll still have products to sell. But the focus will be more about being a creative explorer. Trying new things. Learning. Playing. Making. Sharing.
My hope is that my thirst to explore so many different forms of creative expressions inspires you to learn and stretch and grow along with me. Let’s be creative explorers together!