ALONG COMES MARY

Do you ever feel like you’ve outgrown a tradition? When December rolls around, you can always get me going on my “Word of the Year.” Something that became a somewhat “unplanned tradition,” my Word of the Year has always served as a terrific send-off to the year past as we welcome in a fresh one. I cringe each time it’s creeping up if I should write another installment. Is it too tacky? Cliche? Predictable? You get the idea.

Yet here we are. I’ve chosen seven words for the years since 2012 for this annual series. Each word has served as a great representation of how I hope to enter my new year. In this case, not just the new year, but the decade. When I got to thinking of this, it made me very reflective, and I found I was proud of myself for a change. This was a crazy decade leading to now. I made it!

While I’ve been persistent, cheerful, moving onward, feeling blissful, staying focused, enjoying some happiness or healing, I definitely put some extra thought into my word of the year for 2020 and welcoming a new decade of adventures, trials, and errors.

Drum roll, please….

My 2019 word of the Year, Healing, I took especially close to heart. While it proved to be another year of great times as well as sad and not-so-great, I’d like to think I’ve succeeded at staying on a healing path. I’ve taken a closer look at my diet, beauty and hair care products, as well as learning more than ever about natural ways of healing and improving your overall well-being. While I’ve in no way taken a drastic approach, 2019 was the year I learned that taking things slow is better than not at all. With that realization, I can’t think of a better time than now to flourish.

I continue to be incredibly humble and grateful for my life and opportunities for Along Comes Mary and my travel writing. 2020 shall not just represent the new year, but the decade ahead for that matter. My hopes will be to FLOURISH as I continue to HEAL and PERSIST my travel and life goals!

What will your word be for the year ahead? xo