2015 One Little Word: Present

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."
-Annie Dillard

2015 will be my fifth year to align myself with a word [2011, 2012, 2013, 2014] and my third year to participate in Ali Edward's "One Little Word" workshop. Never before has my next word spoken to me so early in the preceding year. This past summer I ran across a quote from Shauna Niequist that begins with the phrase, "present over perfect." From that point forward, I found myself repeating this mantra whenever my perfectionist tendencies threatened to suck all of the joy out of something.

I noted the power of this quote in my 2014 OLW album as part of my journey to discovering and celebrating authenticity. Also documented in my 2014 album is my big aha of the year: that choosing to be authentic means choosing what feels right and real in the present moment. And, it struck me that here was the word "present" again. It seemed to be calling out to me, begging me to grab hold. I tucked it in the back of my head for awhile, giving "authentic" the last few months of the journey that it deserved. But, with the arrival of 2015, I am eager to unleash the word "present" into my life... to see how it will inspire and influence my decisions, big and small, in the coming year.

Sitting here on January 2, I am currently 36 weeks pregnant: my first child is due at the end of the month. Being a mother has been my biggest dream since I was a little girl, and I'm finding myself both excited and overwhelmed knowing this dream will soon be coming true. I'm hoping that regular reminders to "live in the present" will help me make the most of these new mother moments, as well as to avoid getting caught up in trying to make each day impossibly perfect.

Right now I see two seemingly oppositional ways to look at living in the present, and I'm curious to see how the two play out throughout the year:

• Being mindful of the present moment, not regretting the past nor worrying about the future...
• Making choices in the present that may affect the future....

But I'm also intrigued by other definitions of the word, and I wonder about how they, too, will influence my year:

• Present as a gift... what presents will I give and receive this year?
• Present meaning to display... how will I present myself to others this year?

Follow my progress and be inspired!

Bring it on, 2015!