CULTIVATE: WORD FOR 2018
Background photo by Jazmin Quaynor on Unsplash
Okay, now that ya'll know my goals for this year, let's talk about the word I've chosen for 2018. If you've hung around this spot for awhile, then you know that I choose a word each year that I want to be intentional about for that year. I started with 'intentional' for 2015, 'grace' for 2016, and 'relinquish' in 2017.
This year my word is:
Cultivate.
Cultivate: to foster the growth of; to improve by labor, care, or study: refine; further, encourage; to come to have gradually.
All of my goals are things I want to cultivate as foundations for myself and my family. Like plants and crops, these things will and need to grow GRADUALLY (a foreign word for this impatient girl!)...slowly.
Little by little.
I can't rush this or I will have stunted growth and a mess. That means that there's gonna be some parts of the process that is hidden until I see evidence of growth sprout above the surface (think how there's growth of a plant in the ground for some time before we see the first sprout above ground). It's also going to require labor, as in hard work. This ain't gonna be easy. But then, what things of true value are easy to come by?
I wrote the above in the Notes app on my phone as soon as I chose the word. Part of what inspired me to choose cultivate as my word for 2018 was Lara Casey (ya'll know I love me some Lara Casey!) of Cultivate What Matters. Although I am far from having a green thumb as can be, Lara's use of planting and gardening as metaphors for going after your goals and being intentional with your life -little by little - has truly resonated with me. I know that if I want to be where I want to be at the end of 2018, then it's going to take slow, messy, hard work. I'm going to have to get my hands dirty. But I also know that the yield will be so much more worth it.
As daunting as that sounds, I'm excited and ready! Let's. Do. This!