What’s your word for the year 2025?

I’ve been choosing a word for the year for over a decade and it’s a practice I’ve passed on to the women of the See Jane Write Community too.

Some years I pick three words. Other years I choose a phrase.

Some years I get completely obsessed with the word that I chose. It becomes my mantra or prayer that I constantly whisper. Other years – like this year — my word has missed the mark – or so I thought.

Reflections on My Word for the Year 2024

I chose the word LEAP for 2024 because I wanted to experience a quantum leap in every facet of my life. But I was having second thoughts about this word before I even yelled “Happy New Year!” It’s not that I felt anything was wrong with wanting a quantum leap. It’s just that something within me was nudging me toward a different word – PEACE.

By mid-year, I couldn’t remember what word I’d picked. But here’s the plot twist: as I reflect on 2024, I can see that I have experienced a quantum leap this year, just not in the way I expected. On the surface, my life may look the same. I don’t have a new luxury vehicle or a new big fancy house. I didn’t get an extreme makeover or get a flood of new coaching clients or followers on social media. I didn’t hit any milestones in my fitness journey either. And yet nothing about my life feels the same because I am filled with peace. Peace that keeps me from stressing about my to-do list so my life now feels full, not busy. Peace that helps me handle all the challenges this year has brought – including my parents’ health issues and the death of a close friend. Peace that fills me with contentment, confidence, and gratitude. 

I got my quantum leap because I feel like an overnight success story – not because any achievement has come to me easily. NOTHING HAS BEEN EASY. But I feel like an overnight success because one day I woke up and realized that my life is great and I’ve done a lot of stuff that would make my younger self very proud. I am living the life I once prayed for and dreamt about. I experienced a quantum leap because I fell in love with my life.

Why I Choose a Word for the Year

I like to choose my word for the year before I set my annual aspirations because I use my word to help guide which goals I decide to focus on. And even if my goals for the year change, my word for the year helps me stay true to my vision and values. That’s why I think having a word is so important. It’s like your True North or guiding light.

In 2022, I was praying for ABUNDANCE. But after careful reflection, I realized that I was too focused on material wealth — instead of true wealth. So my word for 2023 was ELEVATE, a charge to focus not on having more stuff but on having more experiences that make life feel abundant. I wanted to challenge myself to stop playing small and to live out loud.

In 2021, my word was RESTORATION because in 2020, cancer had taken so much from me. Nonetheless, I feel that in 2020 my prayer for GROWTH was answered. After all, you must prune before you can bloom.

How I Choose My Word for the Year

Oftentimes the events of the previous year inspire my word for the new year. For example, at the end of 2018, I felt like I had lived the same year twice. So my word for 2019 was CHANGE and I set the big, hairy audacious goal to quit my teaching job and become a full-time writer and entrepreneur (or writerpreneur) and I did!

I’m going to give you journaling prompts that may help you choose your word. But to be honest, I can’t explain how I choose my words most years. Sometimes it’s as if I feel the word tugging at my heart, stirring my soul and staying on my mind.

My Word for 2025

My word for 2025 is BOLD. I thought about choosing GRATITUDE as my word because that’s been such an important theme in my life for the past few months. But that word didn’t make my spirit sing.

When I reviewed the year, I could see that I accomplished a lot:

  • helped See Jane Write members write and publish books
  • led several journaling and time management workshops
  • landed my most lucrative freelance writing contract yet
  • guided the girls of GirlSpring in publishing an anthology
  • lead another cohort of the Girls at the Center program for GirlSpring
  • won awards for my work
  • graduated from Leadership Birmingham
  • spoke at the Southern Christian Writers Conference
  • joined a church
  • signed on new coaching clients
  • was invited to teach a personal narrative workshop at ArtPlay
  • delivered the keynote at this year’s Alabama Writer’s Cooperative conference (and got a standing ovation)
  • had SO MUCH FUN

But there were many things I didn’t achieve and most of those things required me putting myself out there more, pitching my work and my ideas in new spaces and places. And in order to shoot my shot, I must be BOLD.

And I’ve realized that being grateful takes boldness too. Only a bold woman can accept that grief and gratitude can coexist. Only a bold woman can stop waiting for the other shoe to drop and choose to be grateful for her life and enjoy her life without fear.

Journal Prompts to Help You Choose Your Word for the Year

Choosing a word for the year can be simple, even if you’ve never done it before. Below you’ll find some journaling prompts to help you get started.

Looking back at 2024, what worked well and what didn’t?

What important lessons did you learn in 2024?

What words best describe the person you want to be in 2025?

What are your top 5 values?

How do you want 2025 to feel?

What do you want more of in 2025?

What do you want less of in 2025?

What words best describe the things you want to accomplish in 2025?

When considering things that didn’t work well and things you want less of, you can use antonyms to help generate possible words for 2025. For example, if 2024 was so busy and hectic that you couldn’t really enjoy your life, you may want to choose a word like PEACE, CALM, or MARGIN for 2024.

The journaling prompts above should yield a long list of words. Spend some time with those words and choose the one that speaks to you the most. Then let me know in the comments what you chose!

Choosing a word for the year is one of the first things we’ll be doing during the Write the Vision: 2025 Goal Setting and Planning Workshop.

Set for Sunday, December 15 at 4 p.m. CT, this two-hour workshop will help you set goals for the year, decide which to focus on first, and develop a plan so you can actually accomplish the goals you set.

And it’s FREE. Sign up here.